Kinetic Spirits: Arc 4 - Jude
by Fidchell
Summary: A pack of dark-type pokemon traverse the wilderness in search of the lucario that was once their partner. The leading absol, Jude, makes it his mission to take her down for killing their master. Meanwhile, the lycanroc Bernard tries to put an end to his twisted curse. Story created by Fidchell and written by Raksha-Jareth. Rated T for violence, language, and disturbing content
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Divine Storm

The sun filtered down through the trees, the sounds of birds filling the morning air. It was a scene of idyllic peace and tranquility. A soft breeze gently rustled the leaves of the trees along the valley floor. A babbling brook wound its way along like a glittering ribbon in the spring sun.

Peace, however, wherever it is found, is short lived. A blood-curdling shriek filled the air, the birds which had been resting in the trees nearby taking flight.

Near the middle of the valley, along with a small outcropping of rocks, a young family of absol had made their home. The white-furred wolf-like pokemon had just had their first litter together, and it was at this point that the ruckus originated.

Near the mouth of a small cave, two of the three young absol fought, while a third lay at the entrance of the cave watching. It had all started over a bone that had been discarded by their parents, and that both had wanted to play with. Of course neither had been willing to share with the other and soon the toy became a source of contention between the pair.

The larger of the combatants and oldest of the three siblings was Jen. Her snow white fur gleamed in the sun. Hanging from the blade which protruded from her head, was her youngest sibling, and the only boy in the family, Jude.

Jude had been the last to be born of the three and was by far the smallest and weakest of the group. While Jen was confident and strong, and Lex was quick and smart, Jude was small but showed great determination. Even now as he was being wildly shaken about by his sister, the youngest of the three absol was not about to back down.

"Get off me you little squirt," Jen shouted, whipping her head side to side.

She was nearly twice as big as Jude was and even able to lift him off the ground a bit with some of her fierce shakings. Jude, however, hung on tight, growling at his sister.

"You should just give him the bone," Lex commented from the cave, her attention only partially fixed on the pair. "It's garbage anyhow, and mom will be back any minute."

"Oh this isn't about the bone anymore," Jen said with a growl. "This is about showing little Jude here his place in the pack."

With this, Jen reared back and with a huff swung her head so hard that Jude lost his grip and was sent flying into a nearby bush. The smaller absol growled in frustration, trying to get himself back up.

"Just you wait," Jude snarled as he fought with the branches of the bush in which he found himself tangled up in. "I'll get out of this, and when I do you'll be sorry."

"You keep telling yourself that," Jen growled as she turned to collect the bone that they had been fighting over.

Jude struggled in the brambles and branches of the bush, trying to break himself free of their hold over him. The wet, green wood of early spring would not give way easily though, and it took a great deal for him to break himself out.

Lex watched Jude as he struggled against the bush, feeling a little sorry for her brother, but she did nothing to help him. If he ever wanted to get anywhere in life, she knew that he would have to struggle and fight for it. That was the way of the wild: those too weak to take what they wanted would end up dead at the teeth or claws of those strong enough to claim it.

Jen at this point had lost all interest in her brother, gnawing away at the bone that she had claimed as her own. She really did not care whether Jude would break himself out of the bush or not. At some point, their mother would make it back and would get him out of there, lick up his little tears and tell him just how special he was for being himself. It was sickening to watch.

Jude meanwhile had stopped his struggles. Not that he was any less angry, in fact, he was more so than ever. But he had realized that he was not going to be getting out of the bush by attacking it wildly without any rhyme or reason. Instead, he looked about at his surroundings: his sisters, neither of which were paying attention to him, the branches in which he was tangled up, nearby sandshrew which was foraging for insects nearby. It all started to click for him.

Jude snickered softly to himself. If there was one thing he was good at, it was antagonizing people.

Wiggling around in the bush, the Absol tried his best to mimic the movements of a caterpie moving about. It took a moment for the sandshrew to notice this, but eventually it did, making its way over cautiously to investigate the sounds coming from within.

Jude had to stop himself from laughing. It was all working out far too well, he just needed to get the little ground pokemon a bit closer.

Finally, as the sandshrew began poking its nose into the bush, Jude struck,the Absol kicking the little pokemon's nose as hard as he could manage trapped as he was. The sandshrew grunted and reared up, looking Jude dead in the eye.

Jude could not be happier, the whole plan had come together so far, and now all he needed to do was to add insult to injury, making a mocking face at the sandshrew.

The small earthy mouse grunted in rage, its sharp claws reared back to attack. Jude held his breath. He had to move just in time or he would end up on the receiving end of the powerful slash as well as the offending branches.

As the sandshrew slashed down at the absol with blinding fury, the little dark pokemon did his best to wiggle out of the way. Sharp claws tore through the branches which held him in place, missing him by the slimmest of margins.

Finally, the little absol was free to have his revenge on his sister. As the little earth mouse reared back for another attack, Jude sprung from the bush, using the sandshrew as a springboard for his attack on his sister.

The ground pokemon quickly curled up into a ball after this, unsure of what had just happened, and startled by the lightning fast pounce of the little absol.

Jen, so engrossed with the bone she had claimed earlier, and not expecting Jude to have worked himself out of the bush without his mother's help turned around just in time to see her brother, mid-pounce, about to impact her body.

There really was nothing that she could do. The younger absol once again grabbed onto the spike on the side of her head, though this time he was in a much better position to take control of the hold.

"You little brat," Jen shrieked as Jude tossed her about.

"Say I'm stronger," Jude growled through his teeth. "Say it!"

Jen did not reply. Instead, she used her much greater weight to her advantage. As Jude tried to toss her, she shifted, causing the smaller male to falter. That was all that Jen needed to take control of the fight back.

Jude did not even know what hit him. One moment the littler absol was in complete control of the fight, and the next he found himself stumbling over his own paws. A hard shake of his sister's head dragging him along the ground as he hung on for dear life.

Jen shook her head back and forth violently, once more tossing Jude, though this time he landed with a thud in front of Lex.

"Leave me out of this," The smaller of the two girls cried as she darted away from the fighting pair and back into the den.

"I'm going to claw you up so much your coat is going to be red for the rest of your life," Jen shouted angrily raising a paw to slash at Jude.

"Jen, Jude, enough!"

Jen turned to the sound of the voice, Jude straining to get a look as his mother slowly stepped into view. Jude shuddered a little at the tone of her voice and the look on her face.

"Fighting is one thing, but this," The female absol growled as Jen let Jude get up. "We're a family first and foremost. We don't use our claws on family, is that understood?"

"Yes, mother," the two absol pups said in unison, looking down at the ground in shame.

* * *

Jude stood in silence, the ground rocky and barren as he shook his head. The absol looked around for the others. He had let himself slip away again, slip into his own thoughts, not paying attention to what was going on around him.

Things had been hard since the death of his master, well his as well as others. Shard, a weavile and Hearth a houndoom also were his master's, as well as a certain murderous lucario.

This was the reason they were out in the cold to begin with. It was not bad enough that Hildegard had callously murdered their master before running off, but by doing so she had doomed them all to a life back in the wild.

Jude grumbled under his breath, kicking a small pebble down the way. The absol was as stubborn as ever, and he was going to use that stubbornness to hunt down Hildegard and get some well-deserved vengeance for his master, his team, and himself.

The only problem was, he had no idea where he would find her, which is why he had talked his team into helping out. Neither of them seemed overly thrilled about the idea though.

Jude did not understand it either. They both were cast out into the wild with him after everything had been taken care of. Their master's family thought that they were being kind to them, giving them a chance to live their lives in the wild, but the wild was a cruel place, one where you either killed, or you were killed.

Hearth seemed to know this better than all of them. Jude could not help but feel that the houndoom had done some terrible things before she had been captured. She honestly made his skin crawl and his fur stand on end to be around, but she had been crucial in keeping everyone together after they had been discarded.

Shard, on the other hand, was far from helpful to the group. She seemed to take nothing seriously and went out of her way to make the absol angry. She was a troublemaker through and through. She had also, however, pulled the group out of some tight jams, and aside from Hildegard may have been their master's favorite.

Jude stopped a moment and looked around. It suddenly dawned on him that neither Shard or Hearth were anywhere to be seen.

"Why? Why can't they just stick close?" Jude moaned to himself as he turned back.

The mountains they were in were steep and rugged, a good place to get ambushed or to have an accident. Jude had been insistent that they stick close together so that Hildegard could not take them by surprise, but of course, that had gone over well.

Jude hurried back down the rocky slopes, keeping a sharp eye out on the paths. He had to make sure they were safe, especially Shard. She might be the biggest pain in his rear, but she was especially weak to the lucario and would be the first one picked off for sure.

As Jude rounded a tight corner he felt his paws lose traction, his body sliding out from under him as he tried to slow down for the turn. There was only half a moment to look down, his body sliding along the mountain towards a cliff on a sheet of pure ice, one that had definitely not been there earlier.

Clawing hard into the ice, the absol tried to stop himself before it was too late, but even this seemed to be a futile last effort, and Jude closed his eyes, not wanting to see as he flew off the cliff and into oblivion.

THWACK!

The absol felt his body slam into something solid, but it certainly wasn't the ground. It felt like he had hit a solid wall. His whole body ached as he slowly opened his eyes, the sound of hysterical laughter filling his ears.

Standing just behind a small rock was Shard, the weavile bent over in laughter as she looked at the poor absol.

"Oh, Arceus! You really thought you were going over that edge. You were just going to let it happen too," She howled in laughter, almost choking as she forgot to breathe. "Good thing I got that wall up just in time. You were earlier than I thought you'd be."

"You could have killed me," Jude snapped, slipping on the ice as he tried to stand.

"Oh Judy come on, don't be like that," Shard gasped as she caught her breath. "I wouldn't have let you fall. Honest."

Jude tried once again to stand, and once more he fell.

"Don't call me Judy," The absol growled, his four legs scrambling to stay underneath him even as he tried to balance himself, the absol crashing once more to the ground and slowly sliding to the ice wall, his face bumping gently against it.

Shard once again burst out in laughter. The weavile just could not help but feel such immeasurable joy at the poor dark type's misfortune. It was all just so funny to her, and even more so since it had not been properly finished in time, and yet it still worked.

"By Arceus, Shard, I'll make you pay for this," Jude growled as he finally found his footing.

"I- I really am sorry about the wall Jude," Shard laughed, the poor weavile barely able to keep herself upright through it all. "I wanted you to slide all the way down the mountain. I was going to make a huge track of it and everything."

Jude was sick of Shard's laughter, he was sick of Shard's jokes, and most of all, he was sick of being the butt of jokes. They made him feel weak, just like his sister's always used to make him feel.

With lightning speed, if not a little lack of grace from the absol due to the ice, he pounced on the weavile. A fierce snarl emanating from him as he struck her, knocking her against the rocks.

"You jerk, you absolute JERK," Jude shouted as Shard stood up rubbing her head.

"I may have deserved that a little," She groaned, her head throbbing. Yet a moment later she once again broke out in laughter. "I must have got you good if you're this upset."

Jude once again slammed himself against Shard, the weavile being pushed back into the rocks. The absol standing over her menacingly, claws sunk deep into the icy soil to prevent him from losing his footing.

"Laugh at me again! Come on, laugh at me again," Jude growled, glaring down at Shard.

"That one was uncalled for," the weavile growled.

Jude was about to respond, but before he had a chance to, Shard had vanished in a blur, Jude turning left and right quickly trying to catch sight of where the icy weasel had ended up.

Suddenly, the weather shifted, hail beginning to fall from the sky, pelting down on the ground, the sky darkening considerably.

"Oh, Judy. If you'd just left it at tit for tat we'd not be here," the weavile's voice echoed through the mountains, chilling Jude far more than the icy precipitation.

"Tough talk from somebody who can't get herself out of bed on time," Jude spat back, knowing he was in a bit of trouble at this point.

He was tougher than Shard by quite a bit, even she would admit to that, but she did not fight fair. She would use any and every dirty trick in the book to her advantage, and then she would invent a few just to keep things interesting.

A heavy impact from above cracked against Jude's skull, the absol staggering slightly as his vision went red. A trickle of blood ran down his forehead. Shard was above him, he was sure of that now. All he had to do was get up to her.

Another ice shard came crashing down, the absol barely having time to get out of the way. If this kept up, he would not have to worry much about where Shard was as he would be buried under a ton of ice.

Tensing up, Jude prepared to strike. His body coiled like a spring, ready for the next ice shard. It would be his best opening as Shard would least expect a counter to her ice barrage.

The sound of ice falling filled the absol's ears, his legs unleashing all the tension in them as he turned and pounced, Shard's face full of surprise and fear as he lunged at her. Then suddenly a wall of flame separated the two.

"What am I going to do with you two?" An exasperated and almost motherly voice growled softly.

* * *

"What am I going to do with you two?"

Jude blinked once or twice as he looked up at his mother, tears streaming down his face. He was still furious at his sister for the beating he had just received, for being stuck in a bush, and the worst crime of all, being stronger than him.

"What does it matter anyhow?" Jen said looking her mother dead in the eyes. "He's weak, you and I both know it. He isn't going to survive to adulthood, so why coddle him?"

"I will too," Jude shouted, tears streaming down his face. "You watch. I'm going to be stronger than all of you!"

"Enough, both of you," the mother absol said sternly. "Jen, go help your father scout out that new hunting ground and tell him to make sure this time there aren't any zoroark in the area. He nearly got us killed last time he checked an area."

"Right mom, I'll tell him," Jen growled as she got up to leave. "Hey Lex, come on, we can talk about that Mightyena boy you think is so cute."

"But I," Lex mumbled, poking her head out of the den. A growl from her sister, however, caused her to bound out quickly after. "Right, I can't wait to tell you all about him."

Jude watched as his two sisters took off, leaving him alone with his mother. He huffed a little at their departure. It was so very unfair that he was the only one to get in trouble over this.

"Why do they get to leave?" Jude finally growled, looking at his mother. "She started it."

"I don't care who started it, and I really don't even care about you two fighting. It's only natural for young pups to push each other around," his mother replied, giving him a firm tap on the head for his attitude he was showing. "But you need to realize when a fight is done. You're going to get yourself killed if you keep that up."

"I don't care, everybody thinks I'm weak anyhow, that I'm going to die," Jude grumbled, rubbing his head even though it did not really hurt as much as he made it out as. "Why should I stop if all I'll ever be to any of you is a weakling who is destined to die anyhow?"

"You'll only die if you keep up your stubborn streak," The absol mother says looking off in the direction that his sisters had gone to find their father. "Your father is quite powerful, but he tends to be arrogant. He has some right in being that way, but he's almost gotten the family killed on more than one occasion."

"We survived though because he was strong," Jude said with a sigh. "If I don't grow up to be big and strong like he is then I'll never have a family of my own."

"And what is wrong with the family you have?" His mother chided. "Not everyone grows up to be an alpha and have their own family. You may not, but that doesn't mean your father and I wouldn't love for you to stay and help defend our family."

"Gee mom, thanks for all that support," Jude said sarcastically, a deep sigh escaping him as he really began to think about the possibility that he may just end up a glorified babysitter for his parent's future litters.

"Reality doesn't soften its punches, and neither do I," his mother said with a firmness that meant that the conversation was over. "You don't have to accept it as fate, but don't hate yourself when your dreams don't come true."

Jude just grumbled, turning back to the den. He really felt worthless at this point, though deep down he knew his mother was just being honest with him. He hated the fact that he was so weak, and now even his mother was telling him he was. He'd show her though, somehow.

Jude's mother kept staring off in the direction that his sister's and their father were supposed to be. She seemed fixated on that point, her bladed tail twitching as if she were about to pounce, or perhaps flee on some unseen danger.

"Jude, we need to go find your father and the girls," she said rather urgently.

Jude turned back to his mother, rather concerned about this change in mood. It was not like her to just become tense all of a sudden over nothing.

"Why so they can tease me some more?" Jude pouted, the absol pup not wanting to have to deal with his sisters at the moment.

"No, now do as your told and follow me quickly," his mother said sternly bounding off. "I just hope we aren't too late."

* * *

"I hope we aren't going to be late," the female houndoom scowled as both Jude and Shard trailed behind her.

The pair of them were bruised, sore, and a little singed from the prank, the fight, and then Hearth breaking up the fight. The houndoom was generally a lot more patient, but something seemed to be weighing heavily on her mind.

"Late for what?" Jude said with a bit of a whimper as his head, still sore from the fight, twinged a bit in pain. "It isn't like we know where Hilde is, so we can't be late to find her. What else would even matter?"

"Speaking of, didn't you say you had some sort of way to find her anyhow?" Shard said with a bit of a weak laugh, the ice type having taken Hearth's fireblast a bit harder than Jude thanks to her typing.

"I do, and she lives up in these mountains," Hearth said with a bit of a huff, the hellhound trotting quickly, looking around as if expecting an ambush. "We have a narrow window where she might be willing to help us out. So we have to hurry."

Jude and Shard looked at each other confused. The two pokemon had no idea who Hearth was talking about, or that she knew anyone in this part of the world, let alone kept in touch after being caught.

"Wait, wait, wait. You know someone here," Shard finally said as she shook her head in surprise. "Like know somebody here personally, Not just you-know-met-once-in-a-battle or something."

"I used to live around here before I moved on," Hearth replied, looking back to the weavile with a bit of a smile. "This person we're going to meet is a really old friend. And that's saying something considering how old you think I am."

"Are you sure they're still alive then?" Shard asked putting her claws behind her head in a very casual manner. "I mean maybe they died long ago."

"I kind of have to agree with Shard on this, at least as far as are you sure they're still in the area," Jude said following close behind the houndoom looking around at the barren mountains.

Jude had been wondering for some time now why Hearth seemed so cautious about moving through them. They seemed to be devoid of life. Even the rock and ground types that frequently were found in mountainous areas like this seemed to be missing. It was a little unsettling, but also made this seem like a waste of time to the absol.

"She's still around. I can feel her watching us as we speak," the houndoom said with a bit of an ominous tone.

"Ooh, how spooky," the weavile said, laughing as she followed. "The ever-wandering eye of the mysterious friend of Hearth."

Hearth paused a moment and turned to the others. Her face bore a certain seriousness and worry about it that made Jude seriously think twice about going to meet with this friend. Hearth was not one to talk much about her past, and the absol knew that it was not nice, but he knew very little about it. Now it seemed that Hearth was taking them straight into its dark heart.

"We need to talk," Hearth said solemnly. Even Shard could see the severity of the situation at hand. "I know that I haven't told you much about my past. And there's a good reason for that. My earlier life, when I was a little houndour and a bit after, I was an apprentice to a powerful witch."

"Right, and I'm a mew," Shard said, looking rather incredulously at the demon dog.

"This is serious Shard," Hearth snapped, bringing the ice type back in line. "I was learning the black arts of magic. The kind of thing that steals the essence of other pokemon. It really felt good too, addictive in a way."

"Why'd you leave then?" Jude asked in all seriousness. "Or was you being caught what broke this up?"

"No, I got caught much later," Hearth said sitting down and looking up towards the mountains. "The witch is obsessed with two things. One is a delphox who wronged her in the past, the other is power. I didn't care about her personal vendetta, wasn't my problem, though I was happy to help her with it if it meant I could gain a bit of power."

"So what, you gave up power for," Jude's question trailing off, him hoping for an answer out of the houndoom.

"I think you'll see when we get there. Talking about it here and now isn't the best of choices," Hearth said with a huff, standing back up. "Oh, and Shard."

"Yeah," the weavile said curtly.

"Keep your mouth shut around her, at least if you want to keep your tongue," the houndoom said casually as they once again set off through the mountain pass.

Shard was about to say something, but Jude shook his head. The weavile had a tendency to make things worse when she opened her mouth. Jude needed her. The weavile might be terribly weak against the lucario they hunted, but Shard fought dirty, and that would help significantly in the coming battle.

The trio walked in silence for another hour. Hearth was always on her guard, while Shard busied herself by any means she could. Jude, however, was starting to once again find his focus drifting back, back to days long since lost to him.

* * *

Jude dashed after his mother. Her paws seemed a blur under her as she raced through the forest pathways. Jude could hardly keep up with her, and he was not entirely sure that she cared about that either. Her focus was on reaching the others as soon as she could.

Lex was the first of the missing to be found, the middle child of the absol trio resting under a tree on the pathway.

"Lex, where's your sister?" Jude's mother barked, the absol wasting little time as she slowed only a moment to speak with her daughter.

"She went with dad down towards the swamps. Dad said he wanted help checking it out," Lex replied looking to her mother, then to Jude as he caught up. "Why? What's going on?"

"Something is about to happen, I don't know what," Jude's mother said hurriedly as she looked down the pathway to the swamps. "Take Jude with you to the pass up out of the canyon, I'll meet you there as soon as I can."

Lex nodded. She knew better than to question her mother when she was like this. Hopping to her feet the young female hurried over to Jude.

"You heard mom, let's get going," Lex said as she turned towards the pathway out of the canyon. "We better hurry, I don't like the looks of those clouds."

"Can't we rest a moment. I been in two fights and now a half mile sprint," Jude whimpered as he staggered trying to keep up with his sister. "I'm sure whatever it is, Mom and Dad can handle it."

"You need to go now," His mother growled before bolting off down the pathway.

Jude moaned as he tried to keep on all fours. He was tired, and honestly, he was just a little bit weak, but the world was not about to wait for him, and neither was his sister.

Lex dashed uphill towards the pathway, Jude lagging farther and farther behind with each bound. A flash of lightning split the sky followed by a peel of fierce thunder. Jude glanced up momentarily at the sky above, swearing that for a fleeting moment he thought he saw a bird that looked like it was lightning itself.

The absol shuddered at the sight. His mother was right to worry if such things were about, and yet he could not help but think that this was not the danger she felt so worried about.

Looking back at the path, Jude could not see Lex anywhere. At least he knew where she was going, and he could get there just fine, but he would take his own pace.

Trotting onward, Jude panted heavily, the absol looking around worried as the rain started to come down in sheets. He had never seen it rain this badly before, and it scared him a little.

As the rain came down harder and harder, the ground became muddy, and Jude found himself having to fight harder just to keep himself going, his paws constantly getting stuck in the sticky earth, physically exhausting him further than he already was.

Yet another flash of lightning drew his gaze skyward, as a trio of strange birds did battle with another, the fourth looking like it may have been more at home in the ocean than it would have in the air, wearing a strange crest and raiment signifying some allegiance or another. Jude wondered if it were owned by a trainer or part of one of the pokemon kingdoms, but it never got close enough for any certainty on the matter.

The battle raged on fiercely in the sky above, Jude standing there dazed as the spectacle unfolded, completely unaware of the rising water levels all around the valley, water pouring in from the storm, as well as the surrounding area.

"Jude!"

Jude snapped back to attention, the absol looking around for the source of the call, now realizing just what danger he was in as the water level was now high enough to surround the small hill he had been standing on.

"I'm here!" he cried out as loud as he could. "Where are you?"

"Keep talking, I'm on my way."

The voice was clearer now- it was definitely his father's. The young absol's heart sank in his chest. He was going to be in so much trouble, but it beat the alternative.

"I'm here dad," Jude shouted back into the storm. "Where are you? I'll come find you."

"No stay there!" his father's voice cut through the storm with great authority. "I'll be there shortly."

Jude paced back and forth as he watched the water rise. It was inching ever closer to his paws, overtaking the small mound of mud that he found himself on.

"OK but hurry," Jude tried to shout as he found himself on what was pretty much akin to a sinking ship.

Moments later Jude's father sprinted into sight, still on the higher ground. Jude honestly never felt more frightened or relieved in his life, the young absol still pacing back and forth as his father ran to the edge of the water.

"OK, it isn't too deep Jude. I'm going to swim out to you and we'll swim back together, OK?" his father said as he looked at his son.

Jude nodded, his father stepping into the water. The larger male made quick work as he swam out to the little sinking island.

"Let's go," his father said hurriedly, as he stepped on shore. "I know you're tired, but you got to swim yourself over. You're too big for me to carry. I'll swim behind you to make sure you're OK."

Jude nodded and stepped cautiously into the water. The young absol pushed himself off into the deep water and paddling to the other shore. It was at least somewhat calm. There was no current to speak of, just the turbulence of the rapidly filling water.

Jude struggled as he swam, but his father was right behind him, encouraging him as he went. The young absol tried to push through the fatigue and pain, swimming as quickly as he could to the other side.

Jude's mother quickly made her way down to the pair, watching as Jude and her mate swam to her, the female absol looking on worriedly.

"Come on Jude you can do it!" his mother shouted from the shore.

This little bit of encouragement was all that Jude needed. Pushing through the pain, he swam until his paws met muddy soil. Quickly he climbed out of the water and onto the shore.

Looking up at his mother Jude expected either severe disapproval or some form of pride, but her face bore neither of these expressions. Instead, his mother's face was shrouded in pure terror as she looked out to where her mate was.

"Swim! Swim faster!" she shouted frantically.

Jude turned to see what was the matter. What unfolded next was a scene of pure horror.

A shadow moved towards his father in the deep water, his mother shouting loudly for his father to swim faster. His father had a worried look like the panic of an animal being hunted began to set in. Water erupted as a terrifying crocodilian creature, a feraligator as he would learn much later, clamped its jaws around his father. The muffled cry of his father sounded before being dragged down under the water, never to surface again.

Jude's sisters arrived soon after, but Jude was in a daze. He could not understand what had just happened, how his father could have been killed like that. It was his fault. It had to have been his fault.

* * *

"Hey, Jude, earth to Jude," the voice of Shard brought Jude crashing back to the real world. "Hearth says we gotta camp for the night. You ok? You seem really off."

"Huh," Jude looked at the weavile blinking a few times. "Oh, yeah I'm fine."

"Look, I'm sorry about the prank. I wouldn't have let you get hurt," Shard said rubbing the back of her head.

"It's fine," Jude growled, not wanting to talk about that, or much of anything at the moment.

Shard looked like she wanted to say something, but thought better of it. Instead, she just walked off towards where they would be camping for the night.

Jude stood there, once again looking over the mountainous terrain. His heart felt heavy with the weight of the day, and the weight of days past.

"I'll prove to you I'm the strongest there is. I'll show you all that it wasn't all a waste," he whispered, turning towards the camp, the sun setting blood red against the horizons.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: A Monster's Drive

Fleur paced up and down before the two canines in front of her—Hildegard the lucario and Bernard the lycanroc. Both of them gave her a great deal to think about in terms of what she was going to do about them.

Previously, while sage was still alive, the two had gotten in a fight in the berry fields, destroying much of the crop. With the old delphox's passing however the matter now rested entirely in Fleur's hands. The lopunny had big shoes to fill, and she honestly felt overwhelmed by it.

"Why am I even here?" Hilde snorted as she looked over at the cursed lycanroc with disgust. "We both know it was his fault the field got destroyed, and I've done my part in putting it back together."

Bernard looked at the ground in shame. He hated himself for something he had no control over, something he always seemed to have had with him, at least that's what he remembered anyhow.

"Yes, your punishment is complete," Fleur said with a bit of a huff. The lopunny and lucario had a rocky relationship to say the least, and now that Fleur was in charge, things seemed to be getting worse. "So you can drop the attitude, you're not in trouble."

Hilde was a bit taken back by this. It was a fair bit more assertiveness than she expected from the lopunny. Indeed Fleur was normally very timid, but now she seemed more like a mother scolding a child for talking back. The lucario had to admire that, using what she knew to work into her new role.

"Then why am I here then?" Hilde asked, the attitude dialed down a little now that she knew that she was not going to be blamed for the same thing a second time.

"Sage is gone. And regardless about how you felt about him, I need help until I become used to my responsibilities," Fleur said as she turned towards Bernard. "So I'm trying something new. I want you to be Bernard's mentor in the valley."

"You want what!"

Fleur giggled as both Bernard and Hilde had blurted out the exact same response at the same time. This was exactly why she had wanted to put the two together.

"I want you to be Bernard's partner. Show him around, help him with his problem if you can," Fleur said as she bent over giving Bernard a pat on the head. "I chose you for this because you've already shown that you can beat him if it comes to that."

"So you trust me then?" Hilde asked, a bit uncertain about what this turn of events meant. "You sure you don't want Sol to do this? Or Puru? They both have type advantage on him as well."

"I didn't put you in charge of this because you have a type advantage, or because you're strong," Fleur said turning to Hilde and looking her dead in the eye. "I'm putting you in charge of this to give you a chance to feel like you're a part of the community. Besides, Sol and Puru already ended up as partners."

"I think we could be good partners," Bernard said shyly, looking at Hilde with a bit of a smile.

"See? He likes you," Fleur said as she turned away. "You two take care. And let me know how things turn out for you."

Hilde watched as the bunny walked off. She somehow felt like she had been tricked into the whole affair. She had not even had a chance to say yes or no. The lucario scowled as she turned towards the forest, storming off in that direction.

Bernard was not sure what he should do now. There was little to do but to try and follow Hilde out to the forest. The rock wolf trailed a fair distance behind, not wanting to make her mad.

Neither of them said anything for a good amount of time, the lycanroc shadowing the lucario deep into the woods. Finally however, after a few miles, Hilde stopped.

"Why are you following me?" she asked with a growl. "I'm supposed to be your mentor, not your mother."

"Well," Bernard said timidly, looking down at the ground. "It was either this or go back into the cell. I don't want to be left alone."

"Why?" Hilde asked, looking at the lycanroc, studying him.

"He taunts me when I'm alone. He tells me how worthless I am, how no one will ever love me," Bernard said, tears welling up in his eyes. "He says he'll kill anyone who loves me, like how he tried to kill Plume."

"OK, OK, just stop crying," Hilde growled, trying to calm down the lycanroc. "You didn't kill her though."

"She'll never talk to me though. She's scared of me and rightfully so," Bernard moaned as he sat down, sniffling a little. "You don't know what it's like to be a monster. To kill people you love and care about. To be so very alone."

Hilde was on top of the lycanroc in a matter of moments. The lucario was extremely quick, though she might not look it, the lucario holding the lycanroc by his throat.

"What makes you think that I don't know about loss? What makes you think I like being alone?" the lucario asked, a very dangerous tone in her voice. Tossing the lycanroc to the ground, she scowled. "Some might say I'm every bit the monster you are. You're only a monster if you let yourself become one."

Bernard huddled like a beaten dog under the lucario. He was terrified of her. She clearly was a lot stronger than he was, as well as being strong against him type wise. He was not much of a fighter himself; his other side was, but he was barely able to manage it.

"W-what did you do?" the lycanroc asked. He was nervous, and did not want to upset the lucario, but he felt like he needed to ask.

"I accidentally killed my trainer," Hilde replied slowly. She did not shy away from the information, but her voice sounded distant, as if she was talking about someone else doing the act. "We were training and he was distracted, or something, he failed to block my blow. My spike went through his chest. He died almost instantly."

"Is that why you filed your spikes down?" Bernard asked, looking at the lucario and noticing that all of the metal spikes that protruded from her were filed down flat. "Did it hurt to do it, file them down?"

"It hurt a lot. I had to use a grinder I stole from a construction site," Hilde once again replied in that distant tone. "At least I only had to do it once, they won't grow back on me."

"If I could I'd take a grinder to my other half. Or anything that would let me be rid of him," Bernard said with a growl. "I used to live around humans, not like a trained pokemon, but more like a community pet I guess. Everyone loved me, gave me food, belly rubs, all the good things."

"So what happened?" the lucario asked, her curiosity peaked by the news that there was another pokemon who had interacted with humans. "You aren't there anymore, so clearly something went wrong."

"I- He, killed them all," the lycanroc said softly staring down at the ground. "The village wasn't prepared for it, and I wasn't able to stop it. No one survived, no one."

"So Plume, and what happened here wasn't the first time?" Hilde asked slowly. She was beginning to understand just what the lycanroc had to deal with.

Hilde and Bernard sat in silence for some time. Neither was sure what to say to the other, but they both were beginning to understand the other a bit better.

"Well," Hilde started, finally breaking the silence between the pair. "I think that something we can do for sure is talk to Plume."  
"She's terrified of me, she'll never agree to meet me," the lycanroc complained bitterly, repeating what he had said earlier. "What good would that even do?"

"For starters, it'll help you to see you can be more than the monster you are," Hilde said, ignoring the rock wolf's complaints. "I'll be there, and I'll get Fleur to be there too. I think that if you can explain yourself a little. She might be able to forgive you. Maybe she won't, but at least you will have had a chance to tell her, and there won't be any more regrets."

"I suppose you are right," the lycanroc said, shrugging as he stood back up. "At this point I can't lose anything."

"I'll go talk with Fleur about setting this up," Hilde nodded, heading back towards the ruins she had just come from. "I'd rather you didn't come along."

"But," Bernard started, but the lucario shot him a look that said she was very serious about this. "I guess I'll go back to my cell then. I don't want to be alone."

"Whatever, I'm not your mom," Hilde said, starting off back to the central ruins.

* * *

"You want to do what?" Fleur said in disbelief, the lopunny crossing her arms and tapping her foot.

"I want Bernard to have a chance to talk to Plume," Hilde said, a bit annoyed that she had to repeat herself. "Bernard isn't entirely responsible for his actions. I'm not saying he isn't dangerous, but he didn't consciously make the decision to try and kill her."

Fleur sighed, looking at the lucario. She seriously wondered what this was all about. Earlier, Hilde hardly even wanted to have anything to do with the lycanroc, and now she was trying to get him in touch with the pokemon he had tried to eat.

"He's- We just don't know enough about him, about his condition," Fleur said, turning away about to head back to her duties. "I won't risk Plume's life and that's that."

"He would have done it," Hilde replied, smirking as Fleur turned about. Hilde knew she had touched a nerve. "He would have done everything he could have to try and make things work for everyone."

"And what makes you think you know anything about him? You never even liked him," Fleur hissed, seething in rage. "You never even gave him a chance to help you. So what do you know about what he would or wouldn't do?"

"He would have done anything he needed to ease that guilty conscience of his. I still don't understand why you think he was a saint," the lucario said, pressing her advantage while she had it. "But if you are so sure that there is redemption, than why do you want to keep Bernard from it?"

"Fine!" Fleur looked like she was ready to get into a fight, but she knew better than to fight with Hilde. "I'll arrange for the two of them to meet, but it has to be supervised."

"Of course it has to be supervised," Hilde said, rolling her eyes at the bunny. "I'm not stupid, I just want him to have a chance to make things right, if he can."

Fleur looked at the lucario. This was a side of her that she really didn't get to see much of, and it made her curious. The lopunny took a deep breath to calm herself down. She knew that anger and frustration would not help the situation, and understanding was the best route.

"I want you to tell me something, Hildegard," Fleur replied, taking a far less agitated stance. "Why do you care?"

"Maybe I've got my own regrets, people I wish I'd had a chance to make things right with," Hildegard replied. "The pup at least needs to have a chance at it. He might not get anywhere with it. It'll probably blow up in his face. But that's far better than leaving it unknown."

"I think I can understand that," Fleur said, smiling a little at the lucario. "We can arrange for them to meet tomorrow before nightfall."

"I'll let him know," Hilde says, heading towards the cells in the old ruins. "He's not going to be hard to find."

* * *

Hilde sat calmly in the last warm light of the afternoon sun, the lucario breathing deeply as she meditated. The sound of the breeze filled her ears, interrupted only by the sound of paws pacing impatiently through the grass nearby.

Bernard had little of the patience or calmness of spirit that the lucario had. He was a nervous wreck, trying to figure out what he would say, how he would say it, muttering under his breath the lines that he would say.

"You should calm down," Hilde said shaking her head. "Getting yourself worked up like that isn't going to be helpful."

Bernard stopped and looked at the lucario. He was not sure how she could be so calm, especially when she was the one who set all of this up. In his mind she was just as tied into this whole affair. Should she not also be worried about it?

"Why are you so calm?" Bernard finally asked as he came and lay down next to the lucario. "What if this goes wrong? What if she won't talk to me? What if she tries to attack me? I can't fight, I don't know how."

"You won't need to fight," Hilde said with a sigh. The lucario just could not believe that this was the same individual she fought in the fields. "Things will be fine, she's not going to attack you. And even if she did, both Fleur and I will be here to keep things from getting out of control."

Bernard rested his head on his paws. There was nothing he could do but wait and worry. In the back of his mind, the gnawing, clawing, doubt was taking on a darker form.

" _She hates you. I may have failed to kill her but I still took her from you,_ " The voice was one all to familiar to the lycanroc, his other side, his darker half. " _You think that they can stop me from getting to her again. I don't care if that lucario is tough, I'll kill her too._ "

"Shut up!" Bernard shouted, almost growling, the verbal response drawing Hilde's attention.

"I didn't say anything," the lucario growled, looking at Bernard sternly.

"Not you. Him," Bernard whined as he cowered before Hilde. "He's always there, taunting me, belittling me. Even when he doesn't have control he finds ways to ruin my life."

Hilde looked at the lycanroc incredulously. She did not believe the that the lycanroc was so completely separate from his other half that he would have actual conversations with him. The lucario closed her eyes a moment, exhaling deeply.

Bernard looked at the lucario, unsure about what she was doing, his fur standing on end, like static building all around him. He could not see what was going on, but he knew he was being affected by some unseen force.

Hilde continued to breathe deeply, the world of the aura starting to come into focus more clearly. Everything had its own aura, even the rocks, the trees, the earth itself. She could sense Plume and Fleur, well beyond the range of her sight, as they came towards the pair. She could sense Puru and Sol, both slacking off by the berry fields. She could sense the spirits that dwelled in the valley, their anger still fierce, gathered around a focal point at the far reaches of the valley, the mienshao MeiLi. Most importantly though, she could sense Bernard's aura.

It was difficult at first, the lycanroc's aura being very chaotic. It clashed and strained against itself, almost as if it were fighting. Another deep calming breath brought further clarity, as the Lucario pushed deeper into the depths of the lycanroc's aura, shutting out the world in favor of focusing on the single individual. It was a dangerous technique, one that could win or lose a fight depending on how it was used, but in this situation it offered understanding.

Bernard's aura was indeed split, constantly fighting against itself. The daytime's aura was gentle and timed, but also the more dominant, a contradiction in itself. The night's aura was violent, aggressive, forceful, and yet did not have control, as though it was added, or perhaps grafted on. The night's aura continued to exert force on the day's, never letting up for a moment. It was like a weed choking a plant, trying to get the same nutrients and sunlight.

"Hilde."

The lucario snapped out of her aura trance. The voice was one that she was familiar with, so she did not feel threatened by the intrusion, and yet it was startling all the same to be brought out of the trance.

"Hilde," Fleur said as she walked up towards the pair. "I've been calling to you for a while now. I wanted to make sure that you and Bernard were ready."

"Can I talk to you a moment," the lucario replied, looking over at the lycanroc a bit worried. "It's important."

"Should- should I call this off?" Fleur asked, looking over to Bernard. "Is this going to be dangerous?"

"No!" Bernard shouted in response, jumping up on his feet. "I need to talk to her, to apologize at least."

"I'm not worried about _him_ ," Hilde said with a small frown at the reaction. She had hoped that the lycanroc would have had more restraint. "I'm more convinced than ever _he_ didn't do anything."

"Are you saying that he isn't the creature that attacked her?" Fleur said incredulously, the lopunny folding her arms impatiently. "And just how did you come by this revelation?"

"Aura," Hilde said simply.

"Aura?" Fleur said skeptically, she looked as though she was just going to leave. "And you're going to tell me that sage, _who was psychic_ , didn't know about this, but you by some miracle can because of mystical energy fields."

"What makes you think he didn't know?" Hilde questioned, fighting back the urge to punch Fleur in her smug mouth. "I'm certain he did, but he doesn't strike me as someone to talk about other pokemon's problems."

Fleur sighed. She knew that Hilde was probably right about that. Her master would only talk about the problems of others if they were directly a concern to the safety of the valley. He had very little time to look into Bernard's condition, but he would have known at least whether or not the lycanroc was in control of his decisions.

"So what do you want to talk to me about then?" Fleur said, looking over at the lycanroc with a bit of suspicion.

"I want you to know," the lucario said with a bit of a frown. "Whatever happens tonight, he's not the problem. His other half is something he has no control over."

"Even if that's the case, he is still dangerous," Fleur said, her hands on her hips. "Whether he intends to harm someone, or does so without making the choice to do, if he's a threat he will have to be dealt with."

"You know, I think I can agree with you on one thing," Hilde said motioning for Bernard to follow him.

"And what is that?"

"That old devil died far too soon," Hilde said with a bit of a growl.

Fleur wanted to say something, but she knew it would not help. Hildegard had little respect for authority, and actually she was getting a fair bit better treatment than the old delphox ever had. Still those words hurt far more than she had thought they would.

* * *

Hilde watched as the Lycanroc ambled into the small glade that had been set aside for the meeting. It was a quiet place, far from the main gathering areas, the shade of the trees falling long in the setting sun.

Plume was already there, staring at the ground. She did not seem to be overly keen to be there. Hilde could not say she blamed her. She was not sure just how much the quilava knew about her attacker.

Bernard was not exactly making his own case. He too kept looking down at the ground guiltily. The rock dog made it very hard to even get the conversation going. The awkward silence between the two was broken only by the sounds of the wind blowing through the trees, and the occasional cry of a flying type pokemon.

"Oh for the love of Arceus, say something!" Hilde snapped, giving the lycanroc a rather firm tap on his head.

"You leave him alone you big bully," Plumed replied, almost in tears, the fire type nervously making her way over to Bernard. "It's- It's ok that you weren't there to protect me. I'm just glad you're safe."

Hilde groaned at the response, not so much for being called a bully- she was OK with that- but what the quilava assumed had happened. This definitely was not going to end well.

"I-I was there," Bernard stuttered, finally finding enough courage to at least speak. "I wanted to help, but I couldn't. More than anything I wanted to help you, but I wasn't strong enough to."

"I'm sure you did your best. We're just lucky that somehow it spat me back out," the quilava said with a little smile. "If you like, Fleur, she gave me a little place to stay, you could come stay with me."

Hilde had thought that the silence before had been awkward, but with those words Bernard's silence became outright unbearable. The lucario waited as patiently as she could for the rock dog to say something, anything.

"You've got to tell her, you know that right," the lucario finally said, breaking the silence of the evening. "We're running out of time for this as is. Tell her the truth, and I'll make sure you get back to your cell."

"Cell!" The worry in Plume's voice said it all, she still had no idea that the creature that attacked her and Bernard were one and the same. "You will do no such thing. Bernard isn't a criminal! You heard him, he tried to help!"

"Um, Plume," Fleur tried to cut in, but the quilava was having none of it.

"I won't let you treat him like a criminal! I won't!" Plume shouted angrily, her flames sprouting from her back.

"The monster is me!" Everything went quiet once again. All eyes turned to Bernard, the lycanroc crying as he was forced to admit what was going on.

Hilde let out a long sigh. This was the truth that needed to be spoken, but it was the truth that no one really wanted to have to say. Even Fleur looked like a dirty personal secret had just been aired in front of hundreds, and there was no way to take it back.

"Wh- What did you say?" Plume asked, all the anger in her voice now replaced with quivering fear. "No, NO! That isn't true! That's not possible!"

"Now, Plume, we don't know exactly what's going on with-" Fleur tried to start, but the quilava was having none of it.

Plume bolted from the glade, tears welling up in her eyes, a small scorched path of grass making it obvious which way she was running.

"Plume, come back!" Bernard said, leaping onto he feet, about to follow only to be grabbed by Hilde. "Let me go! I have to tell her!"

"You can't," Hilde said, her voice stern but full of caring. "You know you can't. It's to close too nightfall."

"But," Bernard said, looking off after the ever dimming flame as it disappeared into the distance. "I'm- I'm sorry Plume."

Bernard hung his head in shame. Hilde held him only a bit longer, until Plume was completely out of sight. The lucario let the lycanroc down.

"I'm going to take Bernard to the cell for the night," Hilde said slowly, looking to Fleur. "Maybe, you can go talk to her, when she calms down."

"Yeah, don't worry," Fleur said, looking down at the very heartbroken and crestfallen Bernard. "I'll let her know you didn't mean it, Bernard, I promise."

* * *

Hilde walked silently a ways with Bernard, the two of them quiet as they treaded in the slowly setting sun. Hilde looked around warily, as if some unseen danger was upon them, Bernard starring at his feet as they walked.

So engrossed was the lycanroc, that he had not even noticed that Hilde had taken them down a different pathway than the one that lead to the makeshift prison and his cell.

The pathway that Hilde led them on was one she knew well enough. She wandered the outskirts of Sanctuary, looking for solace from those other residents, and in those wanderings she had discovered many secret and hidden places, places where one could go and see no one else.

Eventually the lucario came to a stop, the last glimmers of the sun setting over the mountains giving off an ominous red light. The moon rose in opposition, its pale silver light slowly becoming the only source of light to be seen.

It was only at the dwindling light that Bernard even noticed that they were nowhere near the cells. The lycanroc looking around wildly in terror as he knew that he would be out in the open.

"How could you do this?" the lycanroc shouted at Hilde. "I'm out in the open, he'll get out, he'll kill Plume, he'll kill you!"

"Maybe," Hilde said shrugging, the lucario showing very little worry about the unfolding situation. "But I have some questions you can't answer, and I'm in a bad mood to begin with, so win-win."

Bernard whimpered, the fear building in him, fear of the beast that soon would be unleashed. The whimpers though soon gave way to savage snarls, the cracking and snapping of bones, the tearing of flesh and sinew.

Hilde watched the transformation, unflinching even in the face of such horrifying sights. She could not help but think that she had seen more terrifying things when she lived with her old team. Shard, her weavile teammate, especially could be quite the beast in the morning.

As the final phases of the transformation began to play out, the lycanroc's fur darkening to a deep red, Hilde took up a fighting stance. The lupine creature standing before her growled in defiance, drool dripping from its maw.

"Well come on then," Hilde said, cracking her knuckles with a smile on her face. "We don't have all night."

There was a piercing howl that split the night air. Bernard's darker half charged at the lucario. A whirlwind of diamond hard claws and teeth slashed and gnashed at the lucario.

Hilde was surprised at the speed and ferocity of the beastly pokemon. The lucario had to keep on her toes just to avoid the constant barrage of attacks. Each blow was dodged, deflected, or blocked, slowly whittling down both her own and her opponent's stamina. She could only hope that her deep reserves would be enough.

A decisive blow to the lycanroc's skull by the lucario brought the fight to a brief pause. Both combatants breathed heavily as they looked each other in the eye. Neither of them moved, both sizing the other up.

It was Bernard that blinked first, knowing that he was far outclassed by the lucario in terms of raw power. The crimson canine attempted to break from the fight, heading back towards the center of Sanctuary.

Hilde was having none of this though, the lucario dashing after the lycanroc with extreme speed. Bernard would not even know what was about to hit him as the blur of blue rammed into him, toppling him over with a yelp of pain.

The pair of them scuffled in the dirt, rocks and dirt flying about as the midnight lycanroc tried to shake the lucario off the top of him. Hilde, however, had expected this wild struggle. The lucario putting her full weight down onto the lycanroc.

"Yield!" Hilde growled, Her full body weight pressing down onto the lycanroc's back. "You've got no chance of beating me."

"I'll beat you, I'll kill you, I'll spread your innards all over this pathetic little sanctuary," Bernard growled, pressing hard to try and get up. "Then I'll go after your loved ones, his loved ones, anyone I can to hurt him."

"And that," Hilde said with a smirk, letting up a little on the pinned wolf. "Was exactly what I wanted to know."

"WHAT!" Bernard's darker half snapped, the lycanroc still trying to break free, but finding little success. "I just told you I'm going to kill you, what do you mean it's exactly what you wanted to know?"

"I know you talk," Hilde said as she let the lycanroc back up. "And so I now can find out what, or who you are."

"I'm Bernard," The crimson canine laughed, picking itself up off of the ground. "Aren't I just so pathetic, so cowardly? it's all an act."

"No," Hilde said with a flatness that took the lycanroc by surprise. "Even now I can sense his aura, suppressed, but you're not the same being. So don't lie to me, who are you?"

"I don't remember for sure," the crimson canine growled, turning away from the intense stare of the lucario. "I've been a part of him so long, most of before is gone."

"Before?" Hilde asked, her interest now peaked. "Before what?"

"Why should I tell you?" The dark creature snarled, slashing at the lucario with diamond hard claws.

Hilde grabbed Bernard's paw in her own, twisting hard, forcing the midnight lycanroc to his knees, howling in pain.

"Because if you don't," Hilde replied, her voice still dispassionate, almost cold, the lucario applying pressure to the paw of the lycanroc. "I'll break your arm."

"You'll hurt him too," the cursed creature yelled, unable to break away without hurting himself a great deal. "You're all too soft, you'll never hurt an innocent."

"That old delphox probably wouldn't have, even though he was a murderer. Fleur wouldn't either, since she wants to live up to his memory," Hilde said with a cruel smirk, bending Bernard's arm just a little more. "But I'm not one of them, and I don't mind breaking his paw to make you talk."

The crimson lupine squirmed in the grip of the lucario. He did not want to tell her anything that he didn't have to, but she had him in a bind, both literally and figuratively. He saw no other option than to tell her what she wanted to know.

"I made a deal with a witch," the lycanroc whimpered. "I wanted to never have to see my brother again. She made it happen, but it wasn't how I wanted."

"What witch?" Hilde asked, exerting just a little more pressure on the lycanroc. "What did she do?"

"Please, please, let me go! I'll talk!" The dark lycanroc begged, on his shedding croconaw tears. "Anything you want, no fight!"

"The witch, the deal, details, now," Hilde said, letting up a little on his arm. "You tell me what I want, and I'll let go. Lie to me, cause me trouble, and I'll break your arm."

"I don't know her name! It was a silver coated Delphox!" The wolf-like pokemon screamed, well aware at this point Hilde meant every word she said. "I tried to get her to get rid of Bernard. She cast a spell that made it so we never have to see each other again, but it made us one!"

"What did she get out of it?" Hilde asked, once again letting up just a little. "How was it done?"

"I don't know, there was a black crystal. It was huge, she was talking to it, then there was a flash," the midnight lycanroc explained, no longer in such pain. "After that, I only come out at night, only during the week leading up to, and during the full moon."

Hilde tossed the lycanroc to the ground. The lucario stood above him menacingly, her face now showing all the emotions she had been hiding: anger, disgust, disappointment. It was clear though she had no love for this creature.

"Go to the cell, lock yourself up," Hilde said with a scowl, her aura becoming visible in her anger. "Deviate from the path even a little, and you'll wish the witch had just killed you."

"Y- yes," the lycanroc said slinking away slowly, his face bore a slightly maniacal toothy grin, though his nervousness showed through. "Where are you going, if not with me?"

Hildegard did not answer. She turned slowly from the lycanroc, heading towards the central compound. The lucario's blazing aura was visible from just about any point in the valley as she marched towards Fleur's residence.

* * *

"What in the world were you thinking?" Fleur's voice pierced the calm of the morning, startling awake several nocturnal pokemon nearby. "He could have killed Plume, not to mention gone on a rampage through the entire area!"

"I beat him before," Hilde shrugged, not letting Fleur's emotional outburst get to her. "I mean I do have type advantage, and probably experience on him as well."

"Did it ever cross your mind that the first place he went on a rampage was the human ruins," Fleur said, pacing back and forth. "Where that- that thing was! She was more than capable of killing Master Ignatius, and held Sol, Puru, and myself off with no effort, and in a weakened state!"

"I beat her too didn't I?" The lucario asked smugly, though the look on Fleur's face told her that might be a bit too far. "OK, we beat her."

"You sucker punched her and gave us an opening," Fleur clarified, her face frowning in disapproval. "I'm not saying it wasn't impressive, because without you we would have been killed for sure. But we were very lucky there, all of us. Had she been at full power I doubt very much even that would have stopped her."

"We're getting off topic here," Hildegard grunted, the lucario not starting to feel just a little underappreciated. "What did the old phox tell you about the witch?"

"Honestly not much. He told me about what he did, and why she hated him. He told me a little of what she was capable of," Fleur said with a small bit of hesitation, the lopunny clearly not wanting to discuss such matters. "I mean you worked for her, surely you must know more about her than me."

"I only met her twice," Hildegard growled, the lucario clearly displeased at that subject being brought up. "Once when I first met her, and once when I left. In both cases there wasn't a Q and A."

"No, I imagine she doesn't talk much about herself," the lopunny said with a bit of a frown. "Still I don't know much about her capabilities, other than she was at least as powerful as Master was, though dedicated entirely to destruction."

"Do you have any idea about the black crystal?" Hilde asked, her mood once again more investigative. "Did the old phox ever mention anything like that?"

"No. MeiLi might have known, she was more into the occult teachings," Fleur said, her tone becoming very much disgusted as she talked about the Mienshao. "But, I don't know where she's at, or even if she's still in the valley."

"She is," Hilde said, turning away from the rabbit. "But, I don't think I very much want to go talk to her either. Anyone else who might know about the witch?"

"It would seem you, Bernard, and the vaporeon that stopped Ingrid from getting to Master's body on the night of the attack are the only ones with direct contact with her," Fleur said with a frown. "Other than perhaps some of Malgam's soldiers, but none of them are around to ask."

"Well, it's a start anyhow," Hilde said with a bit of a grimace. "I'll look into the vaporeon I guess. We'll probably be having another conversation like this soon."

"Will you at least talk to me before you do something stupid and dangerous next time?" Fleur asked the lucario, her voice full of exasperation.

"I wouldn't hold your breath," Hilde said with a small chuckle. "But we'll see."

* * *

Hilde made her way down the deep water pond near the waterfall. The lucario knew full well that this was by and far the favorite spot of the water types of the sanctuary to gather. If she was going to find the vaporeon, this was the place to start.

Finding a rock nearby, the lucario sat down, breathing deeply to begin her meditations. She intended to use her aura sense to find the vaporeon, but it seemed that fate had other ideas in store.

"I'm kind of surprised that you're actually here." A voice sounded from behind the lucario, startling her slightly. "I thought it was just a dream, but maybe there's something more to it."

Hilde turned around, the lucario more than a little shocked to see the vaporeon she was looking for sitting down, waiting for her it seemed.

"What do you mean thought it was a dream?" Hildegard asked, her eyes locked on the vaporeon. "How did you know I was going to come here?"

"Not only come here, but looking for me too," The vaporeon said with a bit of sadness in his voice. "I don't know exactly, I saw it in my dream. A familiar voice told me you needed my help, and that I should meet you here."

"The witch?" Hilde asked, her instincts now in full alert. "Did she know I was coming to find you? Is she still in your head?"

"No, she never was," the vaporeon said, looking down in shame. "I did everything she asked of me freely, of my own will."

"Then how?" Hildegard said with a deep frown. "How did you know I was coming here? The only thing I can figure is that we've both served under her."

"We have another thing in common," The vaporeon said, a little bit more hope in his voice. "He was in both our heads as well."

"He? Who's he-" Hildegard stopped, a sudden dawning of realization sweeping over her. "That old phox? That's who you mean isn't it?"

"Yes, though I can't be sure," the vaporeon said, his eyes looking at the lucario in such a way that it almost made her uncomfortable. "Hilde, your friends are looking for you."

"What friends?" the lucario asked, the stare of the vaporeon getting ever more on her nerves. His eyes almost seemed to glow with an uncomfortably familiar golden light. "Who are you talking about?"

Her answer never came though, the glow fading almost as quickly as it was there. The vaporeon shok his head a little.

"That was weird," The fishy water-type said, his head in his forepaws. "It was like I wasn't even in my own body there for a second."

Hilde stood up without saying a word. Her face was deeply troubled, the words of the vaporeon weighing heavily on her mind.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Old Acquaintances

The wind howled fiercely through the mountaintops, twisting around and through the crags and pathways, almost like a malevolent force. The sound of the whirling wind almost seemed like the violent screams of someone in excruciating pain.

Jude, Shard, and Hearth sat under a small outcropping of rocks, Jude and Hearth huddling next to a fire to keep themselves warm. Shard, on the other hand, was laying as far away from the flame as possible, tending to a small ice sculpture that looked like a fire, the weavile gazing over at the pair every now and then with a sigh.

There were times that Shard felt like the third wheel of the party. She did not have the same rocky pasts that the others had, and it made her feel like she could not relate with them on the same level. Jude's past she had known a bit about, though he rarely talked about it. Hearth, however, had not spoken about her past until just that evening. Shard had a feeling it was not something she was proud of, but she did not want to pry.

Shard on the other hand really could not say that she had it all that bad. Her family life had been OK, though she had been a bit of a terror to her siblings. She liked pushing her pranks further and further, much to the dismay of her parents.

Now she had a new family though, a family of pariah with hard lives, and here she was just wanting to have fun. If she was honest about it, she did not really want to go after Hildegard. The lucario might have killed her master, but that was between her and him. None of them had been there. It could have been an accident, or perhaps it was self-defense, but it really did not matter to the weavile, since it simply meant that she was once again free.

She wished that Jude would give up on this whole grudge, relax, and go with the flow of things. But no, she was stuck out in the middle of nowhere, on top of a mountain, looking for some witch, instead of starting families of their own, or even finding a new master.

Shard once again looked over to the others. Jude was glaring at the fire, his iron determination a stark contrast to Hearth. The houndoom always seemed so calm, so serene. Shard honestly felt a great deal of respect for her. She might have gone so far as to consider her a surrogate mother.

The two of them had been talking in hushed whispers earlier, looking around as if they were being watched. Shard felt that perhaps it was more about the witch that Hearth was taking them too.

Shard turned back to her little ice campfire, breathing on it to help keep it frozen.

"You know you won't melt over here by the fire," Hearth said, the voice coming from just behind the ice-type. "It might be a bit uncomfortable I'll admit, but so is sitting by Jude when he's in this sort of mood."

Shard turned to look at the houndoom, a small smile creeping across her face. Hearth was always there for her, for both of them really. When they had lost their master, it had been Hearth that had managed to keep the three of them from tearing each other apart.

"I just don't feel like I belong really. But you know that," Shard said, turning to the houndoom and scratching the side of her head. "And now we're out here in the middle of nowhere, you're some sort of witch girl, and Judy has his mind set on vengeance. I just want a normal life, either with a master, or out in the wild."

"I'm not a witch girl," Hearth laughed, nudging Shard with a paw. "I'm just the same as I was the day that we met. All the way back when you got caught."

"Yeah, I still got a scar on my," Shard was stopped mid-sentence by the houndoom's glare. "Well, you know where it's at."

"Yes, I know where it is," Hearth chuckled. "And I've said I'm sorry about that."

"I'm not mad," Shard said, turning back to the little icy fire that she had crafted. "Just I wouldn't want to be bitten by you again."

"Well prepare to be disappointed," the houndoom smirked, her mouth opening wide as she grabbed Shard by the nape of her neck, dragging her over to the fire, and plopping her on her butt next to Jude.

"Well thanks, mom," Shard said sarcastically as she scooted herself a bit away from the fire. "You going to tuck us in and read us a story too?"

"Can't you act with just a speck of dignity?" Jude scoffed, turning away from Shard and curling up next to the fire. "She cares, which is more than can be said about you."

"Jude," Hearth growled, her voice carrying the message that she had no intention of putting up with this sort of behavior. "Can you not show a speck of compassion to your fellow dark-type."

Jude huffed, pretending not to listen. The absol was far too serious even for Hearth's personal tastes. There was no reason for the attitude he had either, especially since they really needed to stick together now.

"Don't worry about it, Hearth," Shard said, heading back to the little icy fire. "I'm going to go to sleep anyhow."

Hearth just sighed. She had hoped that the two of them could maybe let the earlier incident go. Shard probably had, though she would eventually prank Jude again. Jude on the other hand definitely was not going to let Shard off the hook easy.

Sometimes she wondered why she had bothered trying to keep the trio together. It often was far more work than it was worth.

Settling down between the two, Hearth closed her eyes. She needed a brief rest at the very least. Things were only going to get worse once her old friend got involved.

* * *

Hearth's eyes slowly opened, looking around carefully. The fire that Jude had lain next to was dying, and Shard's little ice fire was melting into a small puddle. Hearth listened carefully to her surroundings, making sure both of her teammates were sound asleep.

Carefully she stood up, creeping along the wall. The winds had died down some, but they were still loud enough to mask the sound of her claws clicking against the stone. The canine slowly making her way further up the mountain.

Hearth was going to meet with her friend far earlier than the other two. It was a precautionary measure, as well as a chance to catch up without being judged by her companions.

It was at least a mile and a half from the camp to get to the witch's cave. Hearth had a great deal of time to think about how her life had brought her to this point. She had not been entirely honest with Shard and Jude about her past, and it weighed heavily on her mind as she walked.

Finally, after a half hour of walking, she managed to come upon the cave. A faint purple glow emanated from the portal deep into the mountain. Hearth took a deep breath, steeling herself for the meeting ahead.

"Ingrid," Hearth shouted into the cave, the houndoom waiting for a response of some kind. "Ingrid, are you in there?"

A flash of purple flame violently burst up in front of the houndoom. Hearth lifted a paw to shield her eyes from the brightly glowing flames.

"Who dares approach the lair of the great and powerful Ingrid?" a voice bellowed, the echoes of which shook the mountains.

"Ingrid, cut the theatrics," Hearth said still trying to look towards the cave entrance. "It's me, Hearth. I know you know who it is, you've been watching us ever since we started climbing up the mountains."

The flames died down as the silver-coated female delphox stepped out of the cave entrance. Hearth could not help but notice that her friend seemed unchanged after all these years. Hearth hated to admit it, but some of the fur around her muzzle was starting to grey. Ingrid should have looked quite a bit more aged, and yet she looked as young as the day Hearth had left, perhaps even younger.

"You never were much for the flash and flair," Ingrid said, putting her hands on her well-padded hips. "As much as this might shock you, it's really nice to see you."

"It's actually nice to see you as well," Hearth said, smiling a bit at the delphox. "You've not changed a bit. Literally."

"And you're starting to show your age," Ingrid said, motioning for the demon dog to follow her into the cave. "I know I taught you well enough to keep that from happening. Are you just squandering everything I taught you, or do you just like the grey fur?"

"It does make me look a bit more wizened," Hearth laughed, following the witch deep into her lair. "I was captured by a trainer, I didn't have a chance to practice while in captivity."

"Oh, you poor thing," Ingrid said, feigning pity for her friend. "I assume that his death was painful. Maybe even long and drawn out?"

"It was rather quick," Hearth said, taking a deep breath to steel herself on the subject. "It was a hard time in my life."

Ingrid nodded, noting that Hearth was keeping something from her. Still, the delphox was not about to pry into matters that involved a trainer. She herself had once been a captured pokemon, and knew that the bond could do strange things to an individual.

"Have you been keeping up with your other studies, or are they as poor as your aging spells?" Ingrid asked, changing the subject out of respect of their mutual experience as formerly captured pokemon. "I would hope that you can at least charm the simple-minded."

"One rarely needs a spell to do that," Hearth laughed, looking up at the delphox. "But I have certainly kept in practice with some of the more basic spells, things that didn't require ingredients to perform."

"I assume that's how you found me," Ingrid chuckled, looking down at her former student. "Oh, you have no idea how good it is to see you."

"Honestly, I'm somewhat surprised you feel that way," Hearth sighed, sitting down on the stone floor of the witch's lair. "As I remember it, we didn't exactly part ways in the best of ways."

"I've had a lot of time to think about it," Ingrid shrugged, leaning against the wall. "I might have pushed you a bit too hard."

"The art requires strict discipline, and I wasn't ready to dedicate myself to it," Hearth said, scratching herself. "And now, I'm far too old to really get back into it."

"So why come back then?" Ingrid asked, eyeing the houndoom with a bit of suspicion. "Surely not just to catch up?"

"No, I've got two favors to ask of you, well one actually," Hearth said, her voice having a certain confidence that Ingrid rarely saw in her presence. "Jude, my teammate, the absol, he wants to take revenge on a certain lucario. I know she passed through here recently."

"And you want me to tell you where this lucario is?" Ingrid said with a scoff, her eyes narrowing at Hearth. "There's more to it than that, isn't there?"

"I can't show him the pathway he wants to follow," Hearth said, actually showing just a hint of submission. "He wants the same thing you do, to kill the one who did him wrong. I need your help finding her, but even more, I need your help in teaching him."

Ingrid's eyes lit up. The wicked smile that crossed her face would chill the blood of even the cruelest of pokemon.

"You mean you brought me a pupil?" Ingrid asked, almost excited, the delphox standing up straight. "And it sounds like you brought me a pupil who wants to kill one of my greatest disappointments as well."

"What do you mean disappointment?" Hearth asked quizzically.

Ingrid grabbed her wand, waving it intricately through the air. A blurry image formed in the air, one that quickly cleared, Hildegard's face manifesting itself before the houndoom.

"She came to you?" Hearth gasped, looking at the image in disbelief. "Why? What for?"

"She wanted me to bring back her dead trainer," the witch said, looking at Hearth with that wicked grin. "And now that I know who killed him, I must say I'm impressed."

"You shouldn't be, I'm doing what I have to," Hearth said, frowning deeply at the witch. "And I need my friend to learn from you right now. I just figured it would be mutually beneficial."

"Speaking of mutually beneficial individuals," Ingrid smirked, her eyes glowing with malevolence. "I'd say we have company."

The houndoom looked back to the entrance of the cave. She knew that the witch had eyes everywhere, and most certainly at the entrance to her sanctum. It was obvious by what Ingrid had said who it was.

"I'll go get them," Hearth muttered, getting up and heading towards the cave entrance. "I was hoping that we'd have more time to catch up tonight."

"I think I can find some time between potions for you dear," Ingrid said, laughing dryly at the houndoom. "My days have been rather, empty, as of late."

Hearth paused a moment at hearing this. She wanted to ask more about it, but she could hear Jude and Shard arguing at the mouth of the cave. Torn between an old friend and her team, Hearth sighed, heading to the mouth of the cave.

"We'll be back tomorrow," Hearth said, frowning as she walked down the cave's main corridor. "Oh and Ingrid, take care of yourself."

Ingrid watched as her friend walked away. Even with her black heart, the witch found it hard to once again be left alone. With the object of her hatred gone, and no one but herself, Ingrid, for the first time in her long and wicked life, felt very much powerless and alone.

* * *

"What were you thinking?" Jude shouted, pacing back and forth, the trio now back at the camp. "She could have killed you. You haven't seen her in years, and you just assumed that she'll still be cool with you?"

"Jude, she's psychic and fire-type. I'm a dark-type with flash fire," Hearth said, conveniently neglecting to mention the fact that Ingrid was quite capable of using any of the moves her victims could have in life. "I am in fact immune to her entire move set. Did that ever cross your mind?"

"BWAHAHAHA, burn, Judy, burn," Shard laughed, the weavile ignoring the dirty looks from both her teammates. "Oh, oh, but Hearth, maybe she's a zoroark in disguise, and it might use a dark move on you. You might break a nail! BWA HAHA!"

"Ignore her Jude, just ignore her," Hearth said, finding it hard herself. "Jude, I appreciate the concern, but I was going to be fine."

"So why go there without us?" Jude asked, his claws digging into the ground as Shard continued in the background. "There's more to it than you just wanted to meet with an old friend. I know you, you don't take unnecessary risks."

"You're right, I took the risk to see what her disposition was," Hearth said, lying directly to Jude's face. "I had the best chance of fending her off, do you really think Shard could have taken a fire blast in that tight cave?"

"I would have been fine," Shard shouted, feeling left out of the conversation. "I would have hidden behind Judy, and let him take it."

"Why not hide behind miss immunity there?" Jude snarled, clearly becoming frustrated at the whole affair. "Then nobody takes any damage."

"Enough!" Hearth growled, her teeth bared at the two quarreling pokemon. "Jude if you want to find Hilde you need the witch's help. And honestly if you want to survive your encounter, you might want to consider the fact that we're all weak to her, and she's the strongest fighter among all of us."

Jude and Shard both stood there, mouth agape. Hearth very rarely lost her temper, and only when the two of them were doing something so monumentally stupid was it warranted.

"I don't wanna die!" Shard cried, flopping down on the ground. "Hilde will save me for last. Even if I fight my dirtiest she could sneeze on me and I'd faint!"

"Is she being serious?" Jude asked, looking at Hearth quizzically. "I really can't tell with her sometimes."

"Whether she is or isn't, she's not wrong," the demon dog said with a small frown, stepping over to Shard and licking her tenderly. "Hilde will easily take all three of us. And if she's found friends, well I don't know about you, but I'd rather not have my bones turned into jello by a bunch of fighting-types."

"I'm not weak! I'll prove it to both of you!" Jude snarled, about to bound off on his own.

"You aren't listening, or even thinking this through," Hearth said, watching Jude get to his feet in a huff. "I'm not saying you're weak, but I am giving you a chance to be stronger than what you are now. Possibly even stronger than Hilde."

Jude paused a moment as he thought about what she had just said. He wanted nothing more than to prove his strength, and Hearth was extremely powerful. If she had gained this strength from the witch, then maybe he could become just as powerful as her.

"What would I have to do?" Jude asked, sounding a bit more interested.

* * *

Jude trailed behind Hearth as they made their way back to the witch's cave. Shard had opted to stay behind at camp rather than to accompany the group. Hearth suspected that perhaps she was a bit scared of Ingrid, and rightfully so. Still, it was a bit disappointing that the entire group would not be together for this learning experience.

"Now, do you remember what I told you?" Hearth asked, a deadly seriousness in her voice.

"Polite, but not too polite. Don't show weakness, and do what she says." Jude replied, going over what they had talked about on the way there. "And if I get in trouble, you probably won't be able to bail me out."

"Right," Hearth said, looking about as they neared the cave. "I'm sure I wasn't her last student, but as I haven't heard anything about others, it's safe to assume most don't survive the training."

"So why can't you save me if things go wrong?" Jude asks, moving up next to Hearth. "I mean you said you were immune to her moves and all."

"I lied to you and Shard," Hearth said, smirking smugly at the absol. "Ingrid can use the moves of any soul she's stolen. Her power is near limitless."

"So why's she hanging out in these mountains then? Why not go on a rampage, conquer all she sees?" Jude asked, the wicked smile on his face indicating that is what he would do in her place. "I mean, let's face it, the wild isn't exactly the good life."

"You'll just have to ask her," Hearth said coldly, clearly knowing more than she was saying at that moment. "But I'd be respectful about the whole wild and trainer topic. Ingrid has issues when it comes to that."

"I mean it can't be worse than having had a trainer only to have them murdered by someone you thought was your friend," the absol replied, his own demeanor cold, his soul crying out in hatred for vengeance.

"You have a lot to learn," Hearth said calmly, trotting on towards the cave. "And hopefully, Ingrid can teach you all you need to know about vengeance."

Jude paused a moment, thinking just how weird that statement was. He did not dwell on it, however, instead of pressing on towards the cave with Hearth.

Compared to the night before, it seemed easier to get there, closer as well. Jude wondered if perhaps the witch could somehow influence the world around her, keeping anyone she did not wish to find her away. The thought chilled the absol's soul some, as any pokemon that could do that was indeed incredibly powerful.

As Hearth and Jude approached the witch's cave, Ingrid sat calmly in front of the entrance. She seemed to be lost in thought, her eyes only half open. Jude could not help but think that it would have been foolish for any other pokemon to approach her while she was in a state of mind like this.

"So, you left the snack behind," Ingrid said, her voice conveyed a bit disappointment and annoyance. "I do enjoy Weavile. Their souls are delicious, as are the rest of them."

"I thought you only liked younger pokemon," Hearth replied, not showing the sort of concern that Jude would have usually expected from her. "Or was it grass-types. It really has been too long."

Ingrid smiled at Hearth, the malicious delphox seemed very much to enjoy the company of her old apprentice, though this enjoyment also seemed to have a malevolence to it. Ingrid could tell that her apprentice was feigning forgetfulness, though she could not tell why she was doing this.

"This is him?" Ingrid asked, pointing her wand at Jude. "He's to be my new protege, the heir to my power and kingdom."

"A kingdom of rocks and dust," Jude muttered. He was not thinking when he said it, more it just slipped out.

"We'll have to work on that attitude first," the witch growled, turning herself with blinding speed as she kicked Jude in the side, the absol flying several feet before tumbling over himself. "I know my apprentice would have taught you better than that, if I didn't think you had such promise."

"I- _cough_ \- I apologize," Jude said, struggling to catch his breath as he picked himself up. "She warned me, I just didn't listen."

Hearth honestly felt that Jude deserved that slightly. She knew the absol rushed into situations, thinking that his might would save him. Ingrid had held back, and Hearth knew it, but Jude did not have that knowledge. It meant that perhaps he would learn from the experience.

"You seek power, even more than you seek vengeance," Ingrid said, looking over the absol, her eyes once again half closed. "You really don't care who or what gets in your way, you'll overcome it. Your drive is your greatest strength, and your greatest weakness."

"You're too stubborn Jude, I've been telling you this for years now," Hearth said, echoing the witch's words. "Let go of your pride just for a moment and you'll grow in leaps and bounds."

Jude coughed as he slowly made his way back to where he had been and sat down. The dark-type now very wary of the witch, and starting to feel a bit suspicious of Hearth as well.

"I've wasted too much time on failures," Ingrid growled, motioning for the pair to follow her in. "I trust your instinct Hearth, so please don't think of this as a slight against you. Jude will be tested before we proceed."

"I understand," Hearth said, following Ingrid into the cave. "I just ask that even if he fails, please tell him where to find Hildegard. If nothing else, we'll take care of that problem in recompense for wasting your time."

"Hearth, my dear, you're as sneaky and conniving as the day we met." Ingrid laughed, the witch beaming with pride. "Using my desire to have the lucario killed to get what you want, it almost brings a tear to my eye."

"I don't care what I have to do, I'm going to make her pay for what she did to us." Jude interrupted, having grown somewhat irritated by the conversation he was being left out of. "What do you want? Devouring babies, drowning littens, I'll do it."

Ingrid and Hearth looked at Jude for a moment, then at each other. The pair burst out in laughter at Jude's statement.

"Drowning littens, oh that is something else," Ingrid chuckled, beaming ear to ear at this point. "I must say, I'm pleased that I have this sort of reputation. Reminds me a bit of when you first came."

"Yeah, that was something else. I thought I'd have to give you my soul," Hearth said with a bit of a smile. "Jude, there's a difference between practicing the dark arts, and unneeded cruelty."

"So what did you have to do to prove yourself to her?" Jude asked, looking at Hearth curiously.

"I promised her my first born," Hearth said with a broad smirk.

"Turns out that she's infertile," Ingrid snorted, entering into the sanctum. "I can't fault her though, I didn't check into it."

"So you tricked her?" Jude asked, seeming rather impressed with Hearth. "Why didn't she kill you over that?"

"Because I appreciate underhanded and sneaky tactics," Ingrid replied, sitting down upon a throne of bones. "Brute force and raw power are good to have, but a sharp mind can topple empires."

"We should begin," Hearth muttered, the houndoom gathering up the ingredients needed. "This potion takes all day to make, and leaving Shard to her own devices never ends well."

"We don't need the potion anymore dear," Ingrid nonchalantly replied, pulling her wand out and pointing it at Jude. "But I'm impressed you remember it. No, I've found a new method for seeing into the soul."

As Ingrid pointed her wand at the absol, the wand began to glow with a purple flame. Jude shifted uneasily in place, not sure if he was supposed to take an attack, or dodge it. Hearth meanwhile looked on, unsure herself what this new form of magic was.

"By all the dark powers of the distortion dimension, reveal his future to me," Ingrid hissed, her voice taking on an almost demonic aspect.

There was a blinding purple flash of light. Jude braced himself for the pain that would come, but it never did. Instead, he found himself falling, falling through what seemed to be an endless void, only to come crashing down into reality.

But it was not the reality he remembered. Gone was the witch's lair, as well as the witch herself, and Hearth as well. Instead, Jude stood on the field of battle among strange ruins, like ancient human settlements long since abandoned.

It was like he was both in his body as well as watching himself. The perspective always from outside, yet the feelings, the raw emotions, they all came from within him. Jude marveled at himself, a prime specimen, a mega absol, all the power of darkness in him radiating outward.

The scent of blood and flames filled the air as he strode across the carnage of war. The bodies of all who had stood against him were crumpled, lifeless, before him. The rush of near infinite power coursed through his veins. He felt like a god.

Soon he came upon his quarry- Hilde, who was stooped over a lopunny, trying to rouse her. Two bunneary quaked behind the lucario, crying. Jude did not care about that though, nor whoever it was that Hilde was trying to revive. If they had aligned themselves with the lucario, they too were his enemy.

Jude gave out a mighty roar, charging at Hilde with all his might. Jude's horn blazed with dark magic as he bore down on the lucario, his body smashing into hers, sending her flying backwards through the air. Jude smirked as he watched the dust settle, fully expecting to see her laying there broken before him.

His hopes were dashed, however. Through the dust, a glow emanated from where Hilde had landed. Her silhouette becoming clearer with each passing moment. Hilde stood defiantly before him, having shielded herself with protect just before the impact. Now as the barrier was fading, Jude saw that she too had taken on her mega form, the lucario's aura burning brightly around her.

Once more Jude charged the lucario, tearing through the two bunneary in his mad dash towards her. He felt nothing but rage and hate, not even caring about those he hurt, even killed, to get at Hilde. With a final terrifying howl, he leapt through the air.

Jude awoke from the dream state, his eyes wide, mind racing frantically as it tried to come back to reality. Sweat ran down his face as the world came back into focus.

"I killed them," Jude said, panting as he struggled to get back to his feet. "All of them, her too I think, it felt like I did, but I woke up too soon."

"All of them? Children too?" Ingrid asked, sitting up to attention. "Did you hesitate at all?"

"No, I didn't," Jude said, looking down at his paws. He could not bear to think what Hearth thought of him at this moment. "They were in the way, I didn't even think twice about trampling them underfoot."

"You are perfect," Ingrid growled softly, almost seductively.

Standing up from her throne, she sauntered toward him, the dark delphox positively beaming with pride. This was everything she wanted, everything she needed right now in her life- true purpose in a pupil that would actually go the distance.

"I will make you into that glorious perfection you saw," Ingrid said, her words digging into the absol's mind. "You will have power, you will have fame, you will be the most feared pokemon in the entire world."

"Where were we in your vision Jude?" Hearth asked, her words breaking through Ingrid's honey words and piercing his heart. "Was there any room in your world for Shard and me?"

Ingrid looked over at her pupil, the stare was one that could kill, if it was not one that Hearth was already very familiar with.

"I don't know, you weren't there I think," Jude said shaking his head. "I don't think that I killed you, it doesn't feel like I did."

"What a shame," Hearth said, getting up to leave. "We'll never know if you truly can cut yourself free, to be truly powerful."

Ingrid's fury at Hearth started to wane, seeing now where this line of questioning went. She no longer suspected her former student of trying to talk the absol out of it.

"You said it yourself, my student," Ingrid said, setting her hand on Jude's head. "There's no need for excessive cruelty. Jude clearly has shown he not only can do what is needed, but he can do it with perfect control. A true killer after my own heart."

"No. No, no, no!" Jude shouted, looking around as he stood up with a start. The absol ran madly from the cave.

Both Ingrid and Hearth looked rather shocked, watching him as he vanished down the twisting tunnels. The pair looked at each other searching for answers.

"What was that about?" Ingrid asked, breaking the silence.

"I honestly don't know," Hearth replied, looking out towards where the absol had run. "Perhaps he's not quite ready for the commitment. Or perhaps he's worried about losing another family."

"Another family?" Ingrid asked, raising an eyebrow at Hearth. "Just how many has he lost?"

"Two so far. His biological family abandoned him for being weak," Hearth said, her voice carrying very little emotion in it. "And his trainer's death destroyed his new adoptive family."

"The thought of having to give you up is too much then?" Ingrid growled, her eyes glowing with dark power. "And you're the one who brought it up."

Hearth was unphased, the houndoom not even attempting to take up a defensive stance. She simply looked at Ingrid with a small, knowing smile.

"If he couldn't face that hurdle, he would never reach his true potential," Hearth said calmly, her tone almost the same motherly voice she used on her partners. "To truly follow the dark path, one must walk it alone. Every attachment is a weakness that another will exploit."

"But he wasn't ready to face it now," Ingrid seethed, deep in her heart knowing that Hearth was right. "Given time he would have been strong enough to break those ties, just like..."

"Just like when you finally broke the ties to your dead trainer," Hearth finished, the houndoom walking over to her friend. "He's not ready, and if you had pushed him, like you pushed me, you would have lost another student. And I don't know that you could have born that weight again."

"What do you know about what I can bear?" Ingrid hissed in defiance, her cold demeanor starting to crack.

"No matter how strong the branch, enough weight will break it," Hearth said, heading towards the cave entrance. "You were the one that taught me that. You are immeasurably strong Ingrid, but even you have a breaking point."

Ingrid growled, slowly making her way back to her throne. The shiny delphox looked utterly defeated, unable to even bring herself to argue any further. She knew Hearth was right, she could not bear another serious loss. She had already lost Hilde, had been cheated of the powerful soul of the annoying eevee who would be king, watched another kill the one she had so long sought revenge on, and then was even cheated of claiming his soul after.

"Will you at least teach him?" Ingrid asked, looking to the houndoom for even the slightest hope to grab on too. "At least train him enough that this time won't be wasted should he choose to return."

"I will Ingrid," Hearth said, trotting off after Jude. "You have my word as a friend."

It did not take long for Hearth to catch up with Jude. He had stopped just outside the cave. He was just sitting there, sulking.

"I messed up, didn't I," the absol sighed, looking at Hearth as she padded over to him. "I blew my one chance at defeating Hilde and avenging our trainer, because I was scared."

"Let's get back to camp, I have a story to tell you on the way," Hearth said, nudging Jude.

* * *

Hearth slowly trod through ash as deep as her belly. The houndoom was ragged, almost broken, weak from the harsh trek through the volcanic dust. Just weeks before she had been the apprentice of the darkest power in the world, and now she was starving, injured, on the brink of death.

To make things worse, she had not slept in just as much time, for every time she closed her eyes the visions would return- horrible awful visions of a terrible choice: the broken body of a nidoqueen before her, little nidoran quaking in fear, tears streaming down their face.

Hearth shook her head, pressing onward. She had to find her way, not only to her destination, but in the world. She had to find a new place for herself, and perhaps forgiveness.

Looking out on the horizon, the houndoom's eyes widened with fear. A small dark line along the skyline grew larger as it drew nearer. Hearth knew exactly what it was, a sandstorm, or ash storm as the case it might be. It did not matter what it was, she knew she would not be able to outrun it, not in belly deep ash.

Perhaps it was fate, the world going to blot her existence from its surface for her crimes. She knew, however, as weak as she was, she would not survive.

As the ash reached her, blowing over her body, the tiny particles of volcanic rock brushing roughly against her fur, Hearth let herself go, accepting her fate and laying down to die.

The thing was though she did not die in the storm, instead waking up hours later in a small wooden room, a middle-aged delphox doing his best to treat her wounds. Hearth groaned a bit, trying to set herself up, but she still felt so weak.

"Lie still, you're lucky that you're alive," the delphox said, rubbing ointment on the raw flesh of the ash blasted houndoom. "I'm guessing though you might not feel so lucky, what with the dreams you were having."

"What would you know about my dreams?" Hearth coughed, laying her head back down on the floor.

"Well considering how many of them I've consumed, quite a bit," the delphox said with a frown. "You've done some terrible things."

"If you know that about me, then why let me live?" the houndoom growled, wincing a little as she felt the delphox rubbing the balm into her wounds.

"Because, indirectly, your sins are on my shoulders," he said tenderly, sighing deeply as he began to wash the ash out of your fur. "If it weren't for me, you would never have met her. Never learned her dark ways."

"You know," understanding began to dawn on Hearth, the houndoom looking at the delphox with some fear. "You, you're the one who killed her trainer! You're Ignatius!"

"Yes, I am," Ignatius said, frowning deeply. "I killed her trainer, sent her down a dark path of destruction that poisons everything and everyone she comes in contact with. Everything she does is my fault, and I have a lot of work to do to try and make it right."

"Make it right? What makes you think you can ever make it right?" Hearth spat, the very sound of those words were vile to her. "You're a murderous psychopath!"

"Well, that makes two of us then doesn't it?" Ignatius said, grinning slyly at the houndoom. "You've got a choice ahead of you, one only you can make. Between you and me, I hope you make the right one. It'd be a shame if I caused two lovely ladies to fall to evil."

"You're a monster," Hearth growled, trying in vain to get up. "I'll make you pay for what you did."

"Maybe, but for now I think you should rest," Ignatius said, getting up and heading towards the exit. "In your current state, it wouldn't be a good idea to pick any fights."

Hearth groaned, unable to move, her entire body in pain. The delphox's words rang in her ears as she tried to fight off sleep. She knew it would not be a restful one, as her conscience would never allow for that again.

* * *

Hearth once more awoke to her wounds being taken care of, but this time it was not the delphox from before. A female incineroar was busy tending to her wounds, wrapping them in clean bandages.

Hearth wondered to herself where all these pokemon were getting the supplies to heal her wounds. Perhaps many of them had trainers, maybe even all of them.

"Is he such a coward that he won't even face me?" Hearth growled, trying to stand. The incineroar roughly pushed her back to the ground, causing the houndoom to yelp in pain.

"He felt that you'd move around too much if he kept tending to you," the female cat said as she continued to wrap up Hearth. "So you'll just have to deal with someone who doesn't emphasize bedside manner, and instead promotes active healing."

"You don't know what he is," Hearth spat, the houndoom laying still if only so she would not be roughly held down again.

"He murdered a young girl in an attempt to get under the skirt of his then-girlfriend," the cat said nonchalantly, finishing wrappings Hearth up. "I can't say that it's any worse than killing a mother trying to protect her young."

Hearth winced at this, she should have known better than to think that the delphox would keep such things in confidence. It seemed though that neither the delphox's crimes nor her own made them unwelcome.

"Where am I anyway?" Hearth asked, trying to change the subject. "What is this place? Where do you get all your medical supplies?"

"You're at the Pyre dojo, and I'm Mael," the incineroar snorted, tightening up the bandages tightly, drawing a yelp from Hearth. "I'm one of the guides here. We don't use the term teacher or master as we're here to learn as much as we are here to guide others in the learning process."

"That doesn't explain anything," Hearth interrupted, her rudeness only getting her bandages tightened even more.

"We're a place for hotheads like you, and Ignatius, to figure out your lives," Mael said, picking up Hearth roughly and putting her back up on all fours. "As fire-types we all have passions that burn very hot. If you let them burn too hotly though, they consume not only you, but everyone around you. Now take a few steps."

"So you're going to teach me to keep my passions in check huh?" Hearth growled, gingerly taking a few steps.

Each step felt like her entire body was going to break. Her paws felt like she was walking on broken glass, but she knew she would have to do this if she ever wanted to get better. Hearth could not help but like Mael a little. She clearly had good intentions, even if she was rough.  
"No, I already have someone I'm guiding," Mael said, checking to make sure that Hearth was doing alright, and that the bandages were secure. "If you decide to stay, I imagine you'll end up with Rin or Jax. They'd be better guides to you."

"Who?" Hearth asked, looking at the Incineroar confused. "I've been unconscious most of the time I've been here, so it isn't like I've met anyone."

"Rin and Jax are both ninetales," Mael replied, satisfied with the houndoom's recovery so far. "Twins actually. They both have experience in witchcraft and the dark arts, and how to overcome that particular hurdle. And you my dear, have quite the hurdle in front of you."

"So they're witches as well?" Hearth asked, not really wanting to get involved with another like Ingrid. "Or warlocks, or whatever."

"Nah," Mael said with a wide toothy grin. "Witchhunters. They go around bringing the light of purifying fire to the dark things of the world. You aren't too far gone yet though. I think they could probably save you."

"What if I don't want to be saved?" the houndoom muttered, Hearth truly wondering if she was even worth saving.

"That is your choice," Mael said, heading towards the exit of the room. Only now did Hearth realize that there was no door, only the frame where one should be. "But I think you want to be, otherwise you wouldn't have been climbing the mountain chasing rumors about a place that offers salvation. Now come along, you need fresh air, and you really should see this as well."

Hearth hesitated a moment. She was not entirely sure she wanted to see whatever it was that Mael wanted her to see. But she knew at the very least she would be safe. Had they meant her harm they would have done so already.

Following the incineroar out of the room and down the hall, Hearth soon found herself in an open courtyard, her eyes greeted by what appeared to be a simple ceremony, with many different fire types in attendance. Hearth marveled at the crowd, wondering how such a place could exist without humans at all.

At the front of the crowd were three pokemon: the delphox Ignatius, who stood proud and resplendent, a charmeleon, who looked as though he was about to attack, though Hearth felt that he knew better, and finally an aged Rapidash, who stood between them.

"The three up on stage are Ignatius, Vulcan, and Kahn," Mael whispered to Hearth, looking rather proudly up at the delphox. "I've been guiding Ignatius for years now. I honestly wondered if he'd make it."

"Make what?" Hearth asked, growling a little at the sight of the delphox.

"Graduation. He's finally ready to take the next step in his life," Mael said, wiping away a tear. "I wish he'd stay and help guide others, but I understand why he isn't going to."

"He shouldn't be allowed to leave. He's as dangerous as I am," Hearth said, not happy about the news. "He'll kill again."

"Maybe, but we're not a prison, but a place of healing," Mael replied sternly. "You're right. Some killers never stop."

Hearth watched as the crowd finished trickling in. The aged rapidash stepped forward to address those gathered.

"What normally is a joyous occasion, is today, one of great sorrow to me," the fiery horse stated, his voice heavy with heartache. "We have two who will be leaving us, one whom I wish would stay, and the other which must be forced to leave."

"You'll wish you'd just killed me," the charmeleon growled, only just loud enough to be heard. "I'll be back, and you know it."

"Show some respect," Ignatius said coldly. The delphox's voice bore no malice in it, but it was clearly a rebuke to that outburst. "If nothing else the least you can do is that much for what they've given you."

"Enough, both of you," Kahn said slowly, his voice weary from age and emotion. "It is with a heavy heart that we must expel Vulcan from amongst us. He has shown that his passionate fire cannot be quelled."

"He killed his sparring partner," Mael whispered to Hearth, pointing to the charmeleon. "He just wouldn't stop, not for anything or anyone. He had to prove he was the strongest here, and it cost him dearly."

Hearth watched the rest of the ceremony, eyes fixed on the stage, two murderers being set free on the world. She could not help but wonder what they would do out there. Would they bring more sorrow, or would they make the world better for their time here?

The actual ceremony was short, and there was little more to it than to list both Vulcan's and Ignatius' accomplishments, giving some parting advice, and then wishing both of them well.

Vulcan, it seemed, could not leave fast enough, pushing his way to the entrance of the dojo with a scowl on his face. Hearth could not help but feel he was right that they should have killed him, but she was starting to understand more about this place, and what it was.  
Ignatius, on the other hand, took time to meet with any who wanted to speak with him, shaking hands and giving hugs. He seemed to have many friends here who were sad to see him leaving. The contrast between the two made Hearth question if this was the pokemon who killed Ingrid's trainer.

Eventually, the delphox made his way over to Mael, a big stupid smile on his face. Hearth looked up at the incineroar who was fighting back tears.

"Don't cry my dear, I know you would like me to stay, and I thought about it for a long time now," Ignatius said taking the big fighting cat's paw in his hand. "I need to do this, to make things right."

"You can do that here. So many could learn so much from you," Mael said, holding that hand tight in her paw.

"And many more could learn from me out there," Ignatius said pointing towards the gate. "I have much I need to atone for. My life now belongs to others."

"What about me though?" the incineroar asked, a tear falling down her cheek. "What about us?"

"Mael, my love, I will never stop loving you," the delphox said, leaning in and kissing the incineroar on the cheek. "But both you and I know that your place is here. I will miss you so very much."

Hearth watched as the two embraced in a tight hug, one that was shared between more than just friends. It was hard to watch as the pair parted, Ignatius slowly walking to the dojo's entrance.

"I think I want to stay," Hearth whispered hoarsely, choking back her own tears. "I think maybe I can learn something here."

* * *

"So that's it?" Jude asked, a little underwhelmed by the story. "You left the witch because you killed someone. We kill pokemon all the time to eat. There has to be more to it than that."

"That's different, Jude, and you know it," Hearth said, sighing deeply at the absol's reaction. "I can see you still need time to process what that story was about, and perhaps a good beating as well."

"I can take you, I know I can," Jude growled, causing Hearth to laugh a little.

"Yes, probably. But I'm not the one who's going to do the beating," she said with a smirk. "You've still got to face her."

"Well we have to find her first," Jude muttered, realizing that they no longer could ask the witch. "Since your friend didn't give us her location."

"If your battle with her is meant to be, then the universe will provide an answer," Heath replied, frowning a little as Jude seemed to have learned nothing. "But for now let's just get back to camp."

Jude nodded, the pair continuing towards where they had camped. Jude was lost in his thoughts, wondering why he had fled, given up his chance to have all that power.

As they drew near the camp, the pair could feel the temperature drop sharply, ice formed everywhere. Jude feared that maybe the witch had indeed retaliated for his leaving. Rushing towards the camp, Jude was met with a rather odd sight.

Shard had nearly frozen the entire area, a noivern trapped in an ice spire nearly ten feet high. Jude watch as the weavile threw another snowballs at the bat-like dragon.

"Try and eat me will you!" Shard growled, tossing another snowball. "I'll show you!"

"What in the world?" Jude blurted out as Hearth trotted in behind him. "What happened here?"

"I'm _chi, chi,_ sorry, _chi,_ " the noivern cried, struggling to get out. "I was _chi,_ just hungry, _chi._ Let me go, I'll do anything."

"Well, it seems that the universe has given us some eyes in the sky," Hearth said with a smirk, giving Jude a knowing look. "What do you want to do?"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Impudence of Jude

It was funny how different things seemed walking away from Ingrid's lair. The air seemed to be fresher, plants and bug-types were abundant, and there was no oppressive feeling that lingered about like a heavy fog.

The trio of dark-types seemed a bit out of place in this somewhat idyllic setting. Treading through the meadow of tall grass and flowers, even Jude seemed to be relaxing a little.

Hearth was glad to see this. She had worried that his exposure to Ingrid would taint him irrevocably, as the witch so often did to anything she came in contact with. The delphox was much like a disease which blighted the land and spread into the hearts and minds of those under her sphere of influence.

Shard, on the other hand, was the mopey grump for the day. After getting directions from the Noivern, Hearth and Jude both had to force her to let it go. Shard had begged and pleaded to keep it, promising to take it flying and feed it, the latter of which probably was a mistake as the bat-like creature tried once again to devour her after being set free.

Ever since then the Weavile had been a real downer, freezing a butterfree in place for the crime of landing in her way as she trudged along at the back of the group. Hearth, however, was having none of this today and quickly freed the insect.

"That was completely inappropriate, Shard," Hearth scolded, her voice a little more tense than usual as her patience had been worn thin over the past few days. "You can't just vent your anger on others when you aren't happy, then you just turn into Jude."

"Hey! I thought you were proud of me!" Jude growled, his demeanor going from somewhat happy to as grumpy as Shard in a heartbeat. "Should have just taken her offer, been a mega absol, killed Hilde."

Hearth sighed. Jude was going off now too. Why could they not just have a single day without there being a fight or an argument, or really anything? All she wanted was just one single day of just acting like they were actually friends.

"How much farther is it?" Shard moaned. The weavile was dragging her feet through the fresh soil, leaving behind a little trail of frost, an odd sight for the warm summer's day. "I just want to get my beating over with, then maybe we can put this whole thing behind us and have real lives again."

"We have real lives," Jude snorted, swiping at a rather large log in the way of the group, the wooden obstacle bouncing a few times before coming to rest. "I mean what more could you want out of life than hanging out with your friends on a grand adventure?"

"A home, a family, someone who'll tell me nice things and bring me gifts without me asking," Shard grumbled, the little weavile freezing a flower as she passed by. "The sort of things that hanging out with friends in the middle of nowhere doesn't provide."

"Sounds like you just want a new master," Jude sneered, pressing on through the tall grass and flowers. "We're still his, we'll always be his, nothing will change that."

"She wants to move on Jude," Hearth growled, trying very hard not to beat the absol herself over that last comment. "We all do, but moving on has different meanings for each of us. Shard wants a stable and happy life with someone else. I want to go back to hunting evil. All you want is to make Hildegard hurt for what she did. But tell me this, when that's done, what then? Where do you go after the problem is gone and the pain is still there?"

"It won't be there!" Jude shouted, the absol turning to face Hearth, tears streaming down his face. "I'll have avenged him, made him proud of me!"

"Jude, you need help," Hearth said sternly, not flinching in the slightest as the absol rounded on her. "And not the kind of help I can give you, certainly not the kind of help that Ingrid offers."

"And what kind of help is that?" Jude snarled, pacing back and forth impatiently as he looked at the houndoom with a great deal of frustration. "The kind of help where we all sing about our feelings and prance around like little ponyta?"

"The kind of help that offers inner peace, and real healing," Hearth said, at this point walking past Jude. "It's a shame that you're not a fire-type. I'd march you up to the Pyre dojo so fast you'd think you were using extreme speed."

Jude trotted up to Hearth, the absol mere inches away from the houndoom's muzzle. The two of them began to circle each other, teeth bared at the other, a low growl emanating from both of them.

Shard began to back up, knowing full well that this was a fight she wanted nothing to do with. The pair of them had never been this cross with the other, and the weavile was not sure how this was going to end, but she had a good notion that it would not be pretty.

Jude lunged at Hearth, his teeth grabbing on to one of her horns and clamping down hard, claws scratching into her chest. As his teeth ground against the bony protrusion, Jude continued his assault on the older canine, his youth a strong asset in this fight.

Hearth, while older, was by far not weak. The demon dog had been in many fights in her lifetime, both with their former trainer and in the wild. The absol was indeed younger, faster, and possibly a bit stronger, but he lacked discipline. Hearth used this to her advantage, tossing her head to the side as she flipped Jude up and over her. The absol crashed into the log he had previously batted out of the way.

Jude's speed saved him from a world of hurt as he rolled quickly behind the wooden barrier, Hearth's teeth clamping down on a branch, splintering it from the force of the bite. Jude quickly took the momentary lapse in her attack to go back on the offensive, attempting to attack her with his scythe-like horn.

Hearth, once more on the defensive, caught the absol's blade in her own curved horns. The houndoom's own bony head growths were far more suited to being clashed against similar horns, like the butting of two rams, but could be used well enough as a guard against other attacks as well.

Now stuck together, the pair reared up on their hind legs, attempting to bite and claw the other while looking for an opportunity to break free of the other and get in a good solid attack.

Jude ought to have been thankful that up to this point, Hearth had not used any of her fire-based attacks on him. But caught like he was, the absol knew that he was in serious danger of just having her unleash a torrent of hellfire right into his face. A danger that became ever more possible as sparks and embers began to emit from Hearth's mouth with each breath.

Finally, Jude caught a break, his sickle-shaped horn sliding out from underneath Hearth's curved horns, dragging along her face as he did so, leaving a deep cut along her brow. Boiling blood streamed down the houndoom's face as they both backed off from each other slightly, though neither had given in.

In a fraction of a second, they were back at it, the pair viciously attacking with no real end in sight. Fangs and claws dug into each other with such ferocity that neither seemed to even care about their surroundings.

Finally, Hearth snapped, no longer holding back. As Jude came in for another attack the houndoom opened her mouth wide, a torrent of dark flames flowing from her mouth.

Jude, unable to dodge, simply stared wide-eyed as he was engulfed in the fiery wave. Forced back by the blast and crumpling on the ground, his fur was badly burned, as were parts of his body.

Hearth padded up to the defeated absol, staring down at him, teeth still bared. The houndoom was fairly certain that the fight was over, but she was taking no chances.

"It's not so bad you know," she growled, her voice seeming almost demonic. "The family you have now, the people who actually care enough to head out here with you, they aren't so bad. Get your head on straight and start thinking about what you have and not what you've lost, cause next time I won't pull my punches."

"Is it done?" came a somewhat timid voice, Shard peeking out from behind a clump of large grass. "Are we all good?"

"Put some ice on those burns would you?" Hearth replied, taking a few deep breaths to steady herself. "And, yes, for now, it is done."

* * *

Hilde looked around her. She was surrounded- a hitmonchan, hitmonlee, and scyther stared down the lucario. Hilde closed her eyes, taking a deep breath in before exhaling. She focused herself on the conflict.

There was a sudden boom. Hilde knew it immediately as Mach punch, that massive sound being the hitmonchan's fist breaking the sound barrier. She had not even had a chance to finish her focus before they had decided to attack, a wise move on their part as Hilde was completely unprepared for the impact to the side of her face.

Hilde's eyes opened wide as she flew through the air. The lucario growled a bit in disgust at letting her guard down like that. Hildegard, though, was not about to make the same mistake twice, forcing a hand to the ground to slow down and control her landing, righting herself in the process.

There was little time to prepare for the next attack, however, as an extendable leg shot towards her. The move was quick and precise, but it was also straightforward and predictable, easily blocked by the experienced fighting type.

The sound of blades clashing against each other let Hilde know that the scyther was performing a swords dance. The bug-type's blades would cut extra deep at this point, an experience she hoped to avoid.

If she had planned on taking the fight to the mantis-like pokemon, she would have to wait as the hitmonchan had returned, raining down a barrage of lightning-quick punches. Bullet punch- it was something she herself had once known how to use, though she had abandoned it for more powerful moves that could quickly end a fight.

Hilde simply absorbed the lightning fast jabs as she waited for an opening, only blocking those that would strike at key areas which might disable or disorient her.

Soon enough she found one, noting that the hitmonchan favored his left arm over his right. Striking hard and fast, Hilde delivered a massive mega punch to the hitmonchan's right shoulder, sending the attacker flying.

There were still two more to deal with though as she rounded about, catching a roundhouse kick in her arms. It was far too predictable she thought, as she prepared to toss her attacker aside. Once again the sound of blades clashing signified another swords dance.

Hildegard hefted the hitmonlee up off the ground, her arms firmly around the elastic leg of the now captured pokemon. She swung her body around, using the poor pokemon at the end a makeshift flail as she smashed the fighting-type into the scyther.

"All three of you are pathetic," she shouted as she stood in the midst of her fallen foes. "But that's why we're here, to work on that. So everyone come over here and we'll talk about what went wrong, and what you did right."

The three battered pokemon limped over, sitting around the lucario. The trio looked down at the ground in shame.

"Chan, you did well," Hilde said with a small amount of approval. "You attacked while I was weak, and put a great deal of pressure on me to follow up. Your moves are weak though. Don't focus so much on speed moves. They help, but if you can't take out your target with your first punch, they become far less useful. Also, keep your guard up on your right side."

"I'll keep that in mind," the hitmonchan said, rubbing his shoulder with his boxing gloved hand.

"Lee, you're too direct," Hilde said, turning to the hitmonlee. "Even when you tried to attack me while my guard was down, it was so predictable I had no problem stopping it. High jump kick might have been better there, though Fleur uses that a lot, so I still probably would have been able to counter it."

The hitmonlee just nodded a little, the pokemon remaining quiet in his thoughts.

"Finally, Mary," Hilde said, turning to the scyther. "First where did you get a name like that? I mean, why not something fierce like Bladewing or Thrasher?"

"My trainer thought Mary was a fine name," the Scyther scowled, struggling to get up to her feet. "You got a problem with that, Fido?"

"Where was that in the fight?" Hilde asked, a bit surprised, but not at all displeased by the response. "Instead you double swords dance in the background and get wiped out in the process."

"I, well, I'm a show pokemon OK?" the scyther blurted out as she crossed her scythes across her chest. "I was building up the crowd for the finisher."

"Less show, more force," Hilde said, smirking a little at the bug. "One swords dance is enough in most cases. Follow it up with a slash or cross scissor. This isn't a show, and if you wait too long to attack, you'll probably end up dead."

"If only you put this much effort into the things I tell you to do."

Hilde turned around, her gut sinking a little as she came face to face with Fleur, the lopunny standing a few feet away, Bernard close at hand.

"Valley needs a defense force," Hilde grumbled, not bothering to address Fleur directly, turning back to the three pokemon.

"Don't turn your back on me, Hildegard," Fleur growled, the rabbit at this point very much done with the lucario's attitude. "I told you to work with Bernard. We don't need a defense force. We are a place of peace and healing."

"If that old pervert was still alive I might agree with you," the lucario sneered, waving off the three pokemon as it was clear they would not be continuing their training. "But he's not. He died. Why? Because all of you were too weak to do anything. You and your little team almost got yourselves killed by the self-same abomination. And it is still out there, extremely angry, and probably just licking its wounds readying for another go at you."

"At me? You're the one who sucker punched it," Fleur replied defensively, the rabbit taking a step towards Hilde. "What makes you think it's going to come after me?"

"Because you humiliated it, and then got away," Hilde said calmly, the lucario staring down the lopunny. "It's going to come back here, it's going to hold you responsible for its humiliation, and it's going to tear a bloody path right to you."

Fleur paled at this. It was a very blunt, and probably accurate description of what would happen. Malice had toyed with the witch after the strange pokemon had killed sage, and she had almost killed all of them as well. If not for the power dampeners on her wrist and the lucario's intervention it would have most certainly toyed with them until it tired, then simply killed them.

"Fine," Fleur huffed, her foot tapping rapidly, portraying her irritation. "But you're still in charge of helping Bernard."

"Why?" Hilde asked, looking at the rock wolf sitting in the background. "I can't fix his condition, I don't even know how it started. All I can tell you for sure is that there are definitely two different entities inside him."

"Well then use your aura and fix them, make them one, separate them, lock the evil one away," Fleur replied in exasperation.

"Aura doesn't work that way," Hildegard said simply, really not that surprised that the lopunny did not understand what she was capable of. "I'm not a delphox or some other psychic-type. I can't eat dreams or magically solve problems by deleting memories. I can't cast spells and charms to alter the fabric of reality. The only pokemon in a thousand miles that probably can is the witch. What do you want, for me to give him a map!"

"Do you have one?" Bernard asked shyly, both Hilde and Fleur turning their attention to the lycanroc. "I'll do anything to get rid of this... thing... inside me. So do you have a map?"

* * *

Jude growled as he shook himself free of snow. The Absol had been under the watchful care of Shard ever since his fight with Hearth. Jude shivered a little, the air around him even feeling cold. His burns, starting to blister, sent searing pain through his body.

Shard was nowhere to be seen. The weavile had left some time ago, though Jude was unsure why. He was not overly concerned with it, however, especially seeing as her bedside manner was atrocious. He was unsure if he would ever be able to get over the icicle thermometer she had attempted to use on him.

Jude took a few steps, gingerly trying to get back into the swing of walking. The absol would need to be able to soon if he had any hope of catching up with Hilde. He suspected that the lucario would leave the moment that the bat got back to wherever she was staying.

Jude was so focused, that he was completely unaware of what was around him, tripping face-first over a pair of rawst berries left to help heal the burns. The absol cried out in agony as his burned body hit the rough ground, tears streaming down his cheeks.

"You really should rest some more," Hearth's motherly voice came from above. "You're going to get some really nasty scars if you don't."

Jude looked up at the houndoom, his face seething with rage. It was her fault he was like this, she was the one who had burned him in the first place. She was trying to keep him from reaching Hilde, from reaching his true potential.

Hearth, however, just looked down at the absol with concern. She had known he would be angry with her over the fight. It was a needed learning experience though. Perhaps now he would realize the folly of his desire to fight Hildegard.

"You'll be well enough to continue tomorrow," Hearth continued, her voice showing no anger in it. "That is if you don't push yourself."

"What do you care?" Jude growled, pushing himself up and crawling over to the snow pile. "You don't really want me to fight Hildegard anyhow."

"No, I don't," Hearth said, not bothering to argue with what was a truth. "But I'm not trying to stop you from doing it either. I would have just told Shard to leave you if that was my intent."

"What do you want then?" Jude snarled, curling up in the snow pile. "Why do you keep holding me back if you don't care?"

"I care a great deal," Hearth said bluntly, her eyes showing a bit of the anger from before. "I care so much that I took you to one of the most dangerous places in the entire world."

"You knew I'd chicken out," Jude huffed, the absol taking a bite from the rawst berry in front of him. "You knew I'd run away. It's because you think I'm weak. Just like my family."

"This, right here, is your problem," Hearth said firmly, getting up and pacing back and forth. "You won't let go of the past. Why do you really think I took you to the witch? To laugh at you as you cowered in the face of real power? Don't you get it yet?"

"That I'm weak, and I should just accept my place as some worthless omega, living out my days happily being a subservient nobody?" Jude growled, batting the half-eaten berry away in anger and disgust. "That I should just learn my place and be happy? Isn't that what you wanted to teach me?"

"No, you idiot," Hearth snapped, looking at the absol in utter disbelief. "Ingrid is you! If you keep going down the path you are, you'll have all the power in the world, but you'll be alone, dying just to have some little glimmer of your old life to hold on to. A visit, from Shard perhaps, giving you that feeling of love that you discarded for power and vengeance years ago."

"I'm nothing like her. Hilde killed our trainer," Jude said, growling a little at the implications that Hearth was making. "I need to avenge him, since I couldn't save him."

"And Ingrid wants to kill Ignatius because he killed her trainer," Hearth said, absolutely shocked at how dense the absol was. "Or was that not clear enough to you when I told you my story? He murdered Ingrid's trainer, Jude. And unlike Hilde, we know why he did it."

"What does that matter?" Jude asked, his eyes starting to tear up slightly. "Reason won't bring him back. It won't undo the hurt. It's just an excuse they use for themselves to explain away why they choose to do harm to others."

"You're impossible," Hearth growled, leaving Jude in the pile of snow. "I'm going for a walk."

Jude lied in the snow, listening to wind blowing through the tall grass. The pile of snow in which he laid slowly melting, wetting his white fur, and causing him some discomfort on his burned flesh.

Looking up, the absol noticed that the sun was starting to set in the western sky. He guessed it was likely six or so in the afternoon, though he never was very good with human times. He just knew that his master went to the dojo at four, and the sun was higher then than it was now.

Jude huffed angrily, the absol moping in the snow pile, slowly nibbling at the other rawst berry. He really hated that Hearth was right about almost all of his problems. If he'd just talk about them then he might actually be able to move on. But she would never understand.

"You know, maybe you don't want to talk to her, but I'll listen if you like."

Jude turned to see Shard, sitting on a recliner made of ice. The absol wondered just how she had managed to make that so silently. She even had a little ice notepad and glasses.

"You're not helping, Shard," Jude growled, turning away from his team member. "You wouldn't understand anyhow."

"Why?" Shard asked, the weavile scribbling on her little icy notepad. "Because I didn't have a hard life like you? News flash Judy, you're making my life hard now."

"Then why don't you just leave?" Jude snarled. "You and Hearth and everyone can just get lost. Then you wouldn't be bothered by me anymore."

"Because you need us," Shard said, putting her icicle down. "More than we really need you."

Jude looked at the weavile a bit shocked. The absol could not believe she had just said that, especially Shard of all people, who barely pulled her weight and made his life miserable every chance she got.

"I _need_ you?" he said, a mocking tone in his voice. "Yeah, I just love all those times you totally humiliated me, in front of our trainer no less."

"So that's what this is about," Hearth said as she came back, the houndoom dropping a farfetch'd in front of the pair. "Alright, that does it."

Hearth picked up the absol, throwing him over her back. The houndoom started off in the same direction that they had been traveling.

"What gives?" Jude shouted, trying to get off. "I don't want to be carried like some pup!"

"And I really don't care," Hearth snapped back, the houndoom trotting along. "Shard, freeze our dinner, dear, and bring it along."

"Is wittle Judy too tired to walk?" Shard mocked, freezing the farfetch'd and dragging it behind her.

"Shard, not helping," Hearth barked, the trio once more on their way. "When we get to this Sanctuary, you're going to get the help you need, Jude, and then, if you still want to, you can fight Hildegard."

"I don't want any help," Jude snarled, though there was little he could do at the moment. "Let me go! I'll find her myself!"

Hearth ignored the absol's protests, and Shard seemed more than content just to come along if for no other reason than to watch the poor absol's misery. Jude slumped down and sighed, resigning himself to being carried.

* * *

Bernard trotted quietly along the river that led towards the edge of Sanctuary. The wolf-like pokemon paused only momentarily to get a drink before continuing onward.

Fleur had been utterly against the idea of Bernard going to see the witch, protesting that she would want to use his dark half to attack their little haven. Hilde had more or less been on her side, stating that she felt that this was foolishness at its finest, but in the end, she had agreed to tell Bernard how to find the witch when he had said he would go with or without their help.

There was a moment that Fleur almost locked the lycanroc back into his cell, stating he was too dangerous to be let go. Hilde though had strenuously protested, going so far as to threaten to break Bernard out if Fleur did any such thing.

Bernard honestly felt like it was best to leave after that. He was not about to let them just lock him up again when he had done nothing wrong. And he was not going to be a danger to anyone in particular out in the wild.

The rock-type began to wonder what he was thinking, though, as he began to draw nearer to the mountains. The world around him seemed to die with each step closer to the witch's lair.

Something seemed off as he walked through the mountain passages. Melting ice formations and large puddles made it seem as though a massive snowstorm had just been through the area, but it was the middle of summer. There were also paw prints of a group of pokemon heading away from where Hilde had said to go.

He wondered for a moment if there was a group of pokemon that had been sent out by the witch to attack Sanctuary, and whether or not he should go back. But in the end, he decided against it. What had they really done for him anyhow, aside from locking him in a cage? Without the old delphox there, there was no reason to stay. The new leadership was terrible anyhow.

The pathway was difficult, to say the least. It was clear that the witch had no real desire for people to reach her. Perhaps it was something of a test; perhaps she really did not want visitors. It was hard for the lycanroc to guess.

Finally, however, he reached the lair of the dreaded Witchfox. The lycanroc looked at the cave feeling a bit unimpressed. It looked like any other cave really. He had even stayed in similar ones from time to time.

" _You're not going in there are you?_ " a voice from deep inside mocked, the darker half of the lycanroc beginning to awaken. " _You don't have the guts to go in there. Little crybaby Bernard, scared of his own shadow._ "

"I have good reason to be afraid of _my_ own shadow," Bernard growled to himself, the lycanroc steeling himself to enter the cave. "Especially since my own shadow is you."

Bernard pushed into the cave, the dark passages seeming to wind around forever. The lycanroc would have been quite lost had it not been for the scent of others recently passing through. He was now quite certain whoever was coming down the mountain had, indeed, first been to this cave.

As he came upon the central chamber, however, the cave began to light up. Purple, silver, green, and red colored crystals gave off a faint glow, bathing the chamber in an eerie otherworldly glow. It almost seemed hard to focus as the colors of the light seemed to shift when one looked one way to another.

" _We shouldn't be here,_ " the dark wolf shouted in Bernard's head. There was a real sense of panic in its voice. " _Bad things happen here. I, I almost can remember._ "

"Now who's scared?" Bernard laughed. It was almost cruel and demeaning, much the same as how the other half treated him. "It's just like when..."

A flood of memory hit Bernard. It was something he had long since buried deep in the recesses of his mind- something that he had hoped would never come back to the surface now assaulted his mind.

* * *

Two rockruff brothers were fighting over a scrap of cloth. Their mother watched over them as the two played tug-o-war, the older of the two managing to take the cloth in the end.

 _"_ I wish you had never been born," the smaller of the two growled, kicking a pebble aside and running off.

He ran and ran until he could not run any further, coming upon a massive black crystal in the woods. A beautiful shiny braixen sat nearby, puzzling over the massive rock.

"If only I had some way to test this, to figure out its secrets," she muttered, turning around to find the rockruff pup. "Oh, what do we have here?"

"Please don't hurt me," the small pup said, cowering before the braixen. "I just wanted to get away from my brother."

"We'll see," the braixen cackled, her mouth curling into a cruel, almost viscous smile. "Maybe you and I can help each other out. I need to find a way to unlock this rock's secret and you need to rid yourself of your brother."

"Would you help me?" the rockruff asked, his soul itself screaming to run. "Would you get rid of my brother if I help you?"

The braixen laughed, things beginning to fade away.

* * *

Bernard found himself once more in the cave, his fur standing on end from the experience. He knew what had happened now, and he had to get out of there fast.

As he turned to leave, there was a bright flash of brilliant purple light, and that same wicked laugh that had just moments ago been only a memory reverberated throughout the dark cavern. Then everything went black.

* * *

Hearth, Shard, and Jude made their way slowly into the valley, the absol finally having convinced Hearth to let him at least walk himself in.

The trio had a hard time believing just how green it was in the area, especially as the route to the witch's lair had been nearly barren. There were not only all manner of plants but pokemon as well, pokemon that did not seem overly happy at the group's arrival.

"They're scared of us," Shard muttered, the weavile looking over at an espeon and umbreon that had been playing a game, now cowering as the group approached. "We haven't even done anything and they're petrified."

"We came in on the witch's path," Hearth said softly, walking over to the pair of eeveelutions. "Which way to the central complex?" she asked them.

"That way," the bespectacled espeon said, pointing down the pathway, trembling a little in fear. "Just keep going until you reach the old human place."

"Thank you," Hearth said, smiling pleasantly at the pair. "Shard, Jude, let's not keep anyone waiting."

"I think we are needed elsewhere," the espeon said, trying to step away from the group. "Come on, Antsu."

"Yeah, good idea, Noel," the umbreon said with a nervous smile, following the psychic cat out of the area, waving goodbye as he left.

"What a bunch of cowards," Jude snorted, watching the two run off into the forest. "There's no way that Hilde would be here. She couldn't stomach that sort of cowardice."

"If the old phox is here, then this is a place of healing," Hearth said with a scowl, the houndoom starting towards the central ruins. "Most of the pokemon here are likely outcasts in one way or another. You probably have more in common with them than you realize."

"So, is Hilde here or not?" the absol growled, starting to realize that the houndoom knew more than she was letting on. "I'm not here to meet more of your old friends."

"I sense her," Hearth said calmly, using what little she remembered of the old magic to feel for the lucario's aura. "I imagine you'll get your fight soon enough, but first you are going to meet one more of my old friends."

"Fine," Jude huffed, the absol turning back to check on Shard only to find her missing. "Oh for Arceus' sake. Hearth, they've captured Shard, we have to.."

"Shard will be fine," Hearth said, shaking her head slightly. "The pokemon here aren't violent, I can promise you that."

"And what makes you so certain?" Jude huffed, the absol looking about warily for an ambush. "They could be torturing her right now, or maybe they're picking us off one by one."

"And maybe you're being paranoid," the houndoom said rolling her eyes. "Now hush, we're almost there."

"And how do you know that?" the absol scoffed, looking around and seeing nothing of the ruins they were supposed to find.

"Because there's the welcoming party," Hearth replied casually.

Blocking the way of the two dark-types was Hilde's valley guard, the hitmonlee and scyther behind the hitmonchan on point. Hearth smirked a little. She wondered if Jude could see it: the stances, the posture, so much like Hildegard. It was sloppy but it was there.

"You'll go no further, vile henchmen," the hitmonchan said, his bravado attempting to hide his obvious inexperience. "Turn back now or we'll be forced to make you turn back."

"Get out of the way," Jude spat, the absol not even fully recovered, stepping forward to challenge the group. "I'm not here for you, so move before I make you."

"Don't say we didn't warn you," the hitmonchan said, dashing in with blinding speed at Jude.

Jude was well aware of what was going on. He had been in plenty of fights with fighting-type pokemon at the dojo where Hilde and his trainer had trained. The move was a mach punch, and Jude knew he would have to take it, but then he'd get his own attack.

As the boxing glove was about to connect with his face, he heard a whimper. Hearth had taken the hit, being in much better shape than the absol.

Jude snarled, jumping over Hearth and tearing into the hitmonchan, the absol in a blind rage, biting and clawing at the fighting-type. His years of experience fighting them helped to keep the pressure on.

Hearth was still shaky as she watched the absol. The houndoom growled a little as she could hardly move after taking the punch.

"Jude, stop this," she shouted, the houndoom trying desperately to get back up. "We don't need to antagonize them."

"Antagonize? I'll murder them!" Jude snarled, giving in to his anger. A dark aura building up around him as he fought. "You can't hide her from me! Where is she!"

"She?" the scyther asked, barely able to dodge the absol as he charged her. "You fools didn't even ask to find out about your target, or has the witch switched her sights to Fleur?"

"Hildegard, you wretched little insect," Jude howled, his anger hitting a crescendo. Darkness radiated off of him, starting to take form. "I can see you've been trained by her, you can't hide her for long."

"What?" the bladed insect asked in shock, only to be clawed fiercely.

Hearth had to do something, had to stop Jude. His vision would come true even without the witch's help at this rate if he continued. As Jude rounded on the last of his foes, the hitmonlee, Hearth jumped between them. Jude's attack smashed into her instead.

"Wha- why?" Jude asked, stopping only once the houndoom had taken yet another blow, this time from him. "Why are you stopping me from finding her?"

"You need to calm down unless you want your vision to become reality," the houndoom growled, getting back onto her feet. "You need to talk to Ignatius."

"You won't find him here," a female voice said, calm and collected, but cold as well. "He passed from this life very recently. Your master knows this, she was there."

Jude and Hearth both looked beyond the trio of guards to find a lopunny slowly approaching. Her ceremonial dress and commanding presence made it clear she was in charge. The trio of fighters stepped to the side as she entered.

"I'm somewhat relieved to hear that the witch doesn't seem interested me," the lopunny said, her face stern and commanding. "But I won't let her harm anyone here, so you just go back down that path and tell her that she should come here herself if she wants Hildegard."

"Dead?" Hearth cried, her voice quivering a little with emotion. "He can't be dead, I feel him here, all around, he can't be dead."

"Well so much for meeting with old friends," Jude said with a growl, the absol readying for an attack. "I don't care who you are, or why you're protecting her, but I'm going to kill Hilde and anyone who gets in my way."

"Enough of this," Hearth barked, turning to Jude tears in her eyes. "I will not watch you walk down this path, Jude. If you insist on being like Ingrid, then by my vows as a hunter I will stop you here and now."

"Hunter? Like the witch hunters that my master used to speak of?" Fleur asked, relaxing a little and looking curiously at the houndoom. "The ones who trained at the Pyre Dojo? Who are you?"

"Hearth," the houndoom said, stepping over toward the lopunny and putting herself squarely between Jude and the others. "I don't know how much Ignatius told you of me if anything at all, but I am no servant of the witch, not anymore."

"I think we should talk," Fleur said, looking now between the houndoom and the angry absol. "Perhaps we can work something out. It doesn't have to come to violence."

Jude now looked at his situation, realizing that he stood no chance against Hearth, the three guards, and the lopunny who had an air of power about her that even Jude could feel.

The absol scowled, shouting angrily into the air. Pacing back and forth, Jude was torn between his thirst for vengeance and his loyalty to his longtime friend.

Hearth stood fast, the houndoom not intending to let any harm come to the lopunny, her teeth bared ready for an attack from the agitated absol. Hurting badly from taking two attacks, she honestly was unsure if she could stop Jude if he did decide to attack, but she would give it her all.

Fleur motioned to the trio of pokemon, having them stand down. She could see that Jude was suffering, and that suffering went far deeper than some petty grudge. The lopunny felt a swelling of pity in her heart, realizing that Hearth had brought him here, hoping that her friend who had helped her could aid him now.

But Ignatius was dead, and if his life and his work were to mean anything, Fleur knew she had to try and help. Trying to clear her mind, the lopunny expanded her energy outward, just as her master had taught her. She was still unskilled in this ability, but it might help to defuse the situation.

A warm calming wind blew through the trees and ruins, its warmth a healing wave, pushing back negative emotions and bitter memories.

Slowly, Jude began to calm himself, the absol giving a small huff before sitting down. The dark aura around him faded away like smoke in the breeze.

"Why don't you and I have a talk, Jude?" Fleur said with a smile, the lopunny gesturing for the absol to follow her. "Just you and I, nobody to judge you or tell you what to do."

"I'd... I'd like that," Jude said, following the lopunny towards the ruins.

Hearth sighed. Looking about at the trio of pokemon guards. The houndoom would not follow the pair, knowing that her presence was not needed at this stage. Instead, she would follow the paths towards the outskirts of sanctuary, noticing Shard showing off her ice sculpting to an azumarill.

Hearth smiled at this. Shard was making new friends, hopefully friends that would last. Her friend, however, was dead, and the houndoom needed time to grieve.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Goodbye, Brother

Bernard blinked his eyes slowly, groaning as he tried to focus. The lycanroc felt like the weight of the world was upon him, and yet he could not feel anything around him at all. Lights of all different colors danced around before his eyes, causing him to feel sick to his stomach.

The rock wolf tried to think back to what had happened before he had found himself the way he was. He had been in the witch's lair, trying to see if she would help him, but it seemed as though it had been a lost cause, as she had not been there. Now he wondered though if she had just not wished to make her presence known to him.

As Bernard's eyes finally began to focus, he could see what the lights were. They were the crystals he had seen earlier in the cave. They circled about him, one by one passing quickly before his eyes.

In one he saw his brother and him, happily living their lives, both having found mates with which they had formed their own pack. Another crystal held the image of a single pokemon, a dusk lycanroc, proud and fierce. And yet in a third, there was nothing but the skeletal remains of both he and his brother, worn away by the ravages of time.

They all seemed to be possibilities of life, where he could have ended up, the lives they might, or might not have had. But they all seemed so distant now, ephemeral and unobtainable.

"There really is just no substitute," a cold voice rang out, chilling the blood of the lycanroc. "None of them have come even close to the power of the black stone."

Bernard thought back, his memory once more set to the night he met that braixen, the black stone that she had been studying, how it had felt like a malevolent force. None of these had the same feel to them, some even felt warm and inviting.

"Look, I didn't mean to bother, but I think you can help me," Bernard said, watching as a silvery stone floated in front of him. The image was that of his brother crying over his corpse. "You have lots of power, maybe enough to rid me of my dark half."

"Favors, requests, do this, do that," the cold voice growled, the silhouette of a delphox coming into view before him. "Do you think that I went to all the trouble of gaining this power just to help people?"

"If you won't help me willingly, then I'll make you," Bernard growled, trying to force the crystals towards the witch with rock slide.

The witch laughed, watching as Bernard struggled over and over to move the rocks, to move any rock. But the stones would not heed his commands.

"I like your spirit child," the witch cackled, moving towards the stone circle. "But you're well out of your league. While in the circle you'll find that you won't be able to use any of your attacks, or even really move your body that much."

"I'll find a way," Bernard growled, finding that the witch was right about how difficult it was to move. "I've been imprisoned before, but no one ever held me more than a single moon."

"Yes, your other self is quite formidable," the delphox said, pushing the stones aside to reveal yet another stone circle, a midnight lycanroc within. "But it would seem that I can keep him docile enough."

"You've removed him? I'm free?" Bernard asked in wonder, unable to hide his excitement. "That means the nightmare is finally over."

The delphox let out a long dark laugh, her face cruel as she leaned in towards Bernard. A finger dragging slowly along his muzzle.

"It's temporary," she said, as she stood up, pulling her wand out. "I can't figure out how to permanently achieve the separation without the original stone."

"So why don't you just get it?" Bernard asked angrily, realizing that his hopes were once again dashed. "You know where it is I'm sure."

"A piece," Ingrid replied, the female delphox pointing the wand towards a large shard of pitch black crystal on a pedestal. Several other smaller chunks each had their own place as well about the main stone. "I've been collecting any fragments I can find for years now. The original was destroyed when I made your brother vanish."

"So it's hopeless then?" Bernard sighed, slumping his head down and whimpering. "We're going to end up back together regardless."

"I didn't get what I wanted either," the witch growled as she returned the stones to their proper orbits. "I was going to just separate you both temporarily and kill you, keeping the better brother, but it turns out killing you would kill him."

Bernard cowered at the mention of this plan. He had not even considered that the witch would want his darker half. It made sense in retrospect, she was after power, and his brother had all the power of the two.

"My only hope at this point is to crack open your mind and sift through it until I find out exactly why the melding happened in the first place," Ingrid continued, as she moved to her cauldron. "I might be able to find some way to reverse the meld and get my lovely new servant."

"And what about me?" Bernard asked, gulping hard with nerves. "Can't you just let me go? I've done nothing to you."

Bernard's heart sank as he saw the wicked smile that crossed the witch's face. It was the cruelest look he could possibly imagine, far worse than any she had given him so far.

"Why I think we can arrange something," Ingrid cackled, the delphox pressing a paw against one of the crystals on his brother's circle. "I'll need to make sure that your brother will still be able to kill after the two of you are separated. If you manage to escape him, I think I could find it in me to let you go."

"I'll help you, I'll do anything!" Bernard begged, the lycanroc in tears now. "I just want to be rid of him, to live my own life."

"Help me?" Ingrid scoffed, the delphox turning away from Bernard, her attention focused entirely on searching her tomes. "What could you do to help me? You don't have any magic, you're weak, you cower at any real challenge to you. So what help could you possibly be?"

"I'm good with rocks," the lycanroc replied, a glimmer of hope in his voice. "I might be able to help you find more fragments, maybe even another full crystal if one exists."

Ingrid paused. This was an offer that she had not expected, and an opportunity she had not thought even possible. Even being able to use rock-type moves, she was not as adept at them as their native users, who had a greater awareness of their unique abilities.

"I find your offer intriguing enough," Ingrid finally said, moving to the stone circle. The delphox witch studied Bernard with some interest. "You will still find yourself with your brother again shortly though. Will he be so willing to help?"

"I don't know," the lycanroc said a bit nervously. He knew this was his only chance at surviving through this encounter though. "He's not often willing to work with me, and knowing that it would mean that I live, he may not be so willing to help."

"Then what good are you to me?" the witch growled, her eyes glowing with hate.

"I'm in control most of the time," Bernard begged, wishing he could back away from the witch. "I'll use every moment that he isn't in charge to find this stone. You have parts to it, it'll make it easier."

"Not good enough!" the witch howled, storming back to her books. "I have you, and sooner or later I'll find a way to get what I want. You're just dead weight in this scenario."

Bernard shuddered, looking over at his brother who remained as motionless as he was. He could feel that their minds were starting to slide back together. And with that, he could feel his brother's excitement at the prospect of finally being rid of his other half.

There was nothing he could do. Hilde and Fleur had told him not to come, yet he did so anyway, and now he was going to pay the price for his indiscretion.

* * *

Hours had slipped by, the slowly turning colored stones continued their slow cyclical pattern as they gently drifted in front of the rock wolf. Try as he might, terrified as he was, he could not help but begin to feel tired, eventually drifting off into a deep sleep.

Once again Bernard found himself before the massive black crystal, the shiny braixen beside him. He knew her now to be the same as the witch that had him in her power, but it was not as if this would save him. The past was done, and his future seemed certain—these memories would change nothing.

Bernard paced back and forth, almost as if he was watching himself as he made the biggest mistake of his life. The little rockruff was standing proudly over his brother's motionless body.

He felt a twinge of guilt at the fact he could not remember his own brother's name. Still, it seemed that it was not going to be important soon enough. The witch would see to that.

Bernard wished he could look away as the witch began the ritual. The witch drew a circle around the stone with her stick, followed by two smaller circles drawn at the polar ends of each side.

The witch paced back and forth around the circle, chanting in strange and elaborate ways. The female braixen seemed to glow slightly as the arcane forces began to gather around her, power radiating off her elegant frame.

Bernard shuddered, his eyes growing wide as strange images began to dance upon the face of the crystal: dark creatures that seemed to defy belief, a dark and twisted male braixen, a ghost-like creature nightmarish and dark, and a massive dark dragon that seemed to swallow up light itself.

The pup began to tremble and cower within the circle. The images being conjured and the witch herself were terrible things to behold.

Ingrid's chanting and glow both intensified, the braixen girl focusing her powers on the crystal. The strain on her was obvious, her arms and legs trembling, her voice beginning to fail her slightly. But she forced through her failing flesh, her immeasurable soul powering her.

Bernard watched in horror as finally, she channeled all of that energy into the stone. There was a bright flash of purple as she released all the power of her soul upon the stone. The black surface of the unholy monolith drank the energy greedily, reflecting it throughout its matrices before pouring out towards the two rockruff pups, bathing them in the light of her power.

But after nearly a full minute, the witch collapsed on the ground, her power spent. Panting, the witch looked at both the rockruffs and the black crystal itself, neither of them seemed to have been affected in the slightest.

"What does this blasted rock want?" the braixen screamed, slamming her fist against the crystal in rage. "Why won't you reveal your secrets to me!"

Bernard recoiled in fear, unable to change the way things were happening. He simply watched as small fractures began to appear where the braixen pounded. The surface of the stone cracked slightly as Ingrid raged against it, until finally, it took a vengeance of its own.

Ingrid slammed her paw down and cut herself upon a jagged crack, the blood from her torn paw seeping down the side of the black crystal. The crimson liquid appeared to take a life of its own.

Ingrid cursed as she stepped back, unaware that she had awakened the stone, and it was hungry.

As the small trickle of blood finally reached the ground, the stone exploded, sending shards of black crystal everywhere, and yet not a single fragment hit any of the three pokemon, however, anything in surrounding area was completely decimated by the shrapnel which the explosion threw out.

What remained of the stone crackled with dark energy, contained only by the esoteric marks on the ground which the witch had drawn. Ingrid was safe outside of the circle, but Bernard and his brother were in the thick of things.

Bernard watched in horror as some _thing_ reached out of the ruins of the crystal, dragging first his brother, and then himself into the swirling vortex.

* * *

Bernard coughed, his eyes fluttering open. Above him, the witch stood with her foot on his head. The lycanroc felt like his head was going to pop under her foot, even though it was nothing more than flesh and bone, while his own skull was reinforced by stone.

 _"If I was in control,"_ the voice of the lycanroc's brother echoed throughout his head, Bernard groaning a little at the sound of it. _"She's going to kill us both because you're too weak!"_

"Actually, I need both of you it seems." Ingrid snorted, grinding her heel down on the pair's head. "I can't get what I want without more of the black crystals. Any other attempt will simply kill you both."

"Wait, you can hear him?" Bernard asked, catching on to the fact fast enough to surprise the witch. "I thought only I could hear him."

"I put you two together in the first place," the shiny delphox scoffed, stepping off of the once more reunited brothers. "It is a simple matter to be able to hear him as easily as I can hear you. What is not so simple is separating you."

 _"I'll never help you so long as he lives!"_ the more savage of the brothers shrieked, his thoughts echoing throughout the cavern almost as if he had spoken them. _"He did this to me in the first place, and now he wants out of it? I'd rather die with him, knowing he had to suffer my presence than see him free."_

"I actually agree with this stance," Ingrid said, walking towards the remnants of the dark crystal. "But I would rather see him free than lose a chance at such a brutal and powerful ally. And since neither of you really have any room to bargain, I'd say you'll both be helping me."

"But you need us to get the stone right?" Bernard asked, somewhat in a panic as both his brother and the witch were openly conspiring against him. "And your best option is me since I'm the one in control the most. You can't do this only once every twenty-eight days."

The witch paused, knowing that Bernard was correct with his assumption. She would need him more than she wanted to admit; however, she did not trust him. He had already sold his brother out once, and now with his own life on the line, he would likely do it again.

She needed some sort of leverage over the pair, something that both of them wanted. It clearly wasn't separation, the brother had no interest in it.

"Hey, Moonmutt," the Witch snarled, addressing the midnight brother. "I know what it's like wanting to have vengeance on someone who's done you wrong, taken everything from you."

 _"And why should I care about that?"_ the darker brother growled, his anger so fierce that it showed on Bernard's visage even though the midday lycanroc was in charge. _"I don't intend to help you just so I can be enslaved once more."_

"And I'm not going to help unless I get assurances that I'm not going to be killed," Bernard huffed, sitting down on his haunches. "And you're not going to kill both of us, because you want him. So it's a stalemate."

Ingrid burst out into hysteric laughter, the witch nearly doubling over with how funny she found that statement.

Bernard yelped as he was flung against the wall, the psychic powers of the delphox witch crushing him against the stones of the cave. He considered at that moment just bringing the whole mountain down on top of all of them, though he suspected that the witch would only be put out because her lair had been destroyed.

"You think I won't just kill you because I can't have what I want?" Ingrid scoffed, pressing harder against the lycanroc. "I've killed for less petty reasons, and I have had it with failed students. So either you get me my rock, or I'm going to devour both of your souls and use your pelt as a throw rug."

 _"Then kill us now and save us from your incessant prattle, you hag,"_ the brother growled, standing his ground against the witch. _"I will not cower to you, or bend my knee to anyone."_

"Please don't listen to him, I'm sure we can work something out," Bernard begged, the witch standing over the pair. "I don't want to die just because of him!"

"Such a self-serving, groveling, mewling," Ingrid continued to curse under her breath, the delphox storming off deeper into her lair. "I'll solve this problem here and now."

Bernard dared not move. The lycanroc knew he would never even make it to the entrance before the witch had disintegrated him, or worse. Still, he was not sure if she intended to kill them both here and now.

After a short while, the witch returned, an abra grasped in her claws. The little sleeping pokemon dangled limply in her grasp, snoring softly. It was amazing that the little pokemon could sleep through being carried around like it was, and yet the proof was right in front of them.

"I assume you two morons know what an abra is," Ingrid growled, setting the sleeping pokemon in front of the pair. "But in case you aren't aware, they have a rather unique ability called teleport, which allows them to move freely across space, unhindered by physical boundaries."

 _"And how does that solve this problem?"_ came the irritated growl of Bernard's brother, defiant even in the face of certain destruction. _"I still won't bow to your wishes, I won't be made a slave to you."_

"Which is why I chose an abra," Ingrid said with a snort, the witch once more moving to her books. "I can't separate you physically, but moving your mind to another body should be possible. As an abra, you could leave any time you like, or stay, and get your body back when I can manage to tear you two apart. But it would be your choice, your freedom as it were."

 _"And yet weak enough that you know I'll stay,"_ the dark wolf growled, the gnawing feeling of a trap chewing on his mind.

"This seems like a good deal to me," Bernard said with a bit of optimism, the rock wolf looking over the abra. "You get your body back when we're done, you and I don't have to deal with each other, and if you feel like it's a bad deal you just leave."

Ingrid grinned a little as she watched the lycanroc. She knew that it was an offer too good to resist, but even more so, it was a trap. She could easily stop an abra from using teleport- it was how she had kept this one around so long, but that was never the point. The point was to give the illusion of choice to someone who never really had one.

 _"Very well, I'll do it,"_ the midnight lycanroc growled, having made up his mind on the matter. _"It would seem that there really is only the downside of a weak body, and even that can be changed in time."_

"Excellent," Ingrid replied softly, taking the abra and heading deeper into the caverns. "This will be a simple matter. It is something that might even only require my psychic abilities normally, but we want to rid ourselves of the abra's mind, not just shove it in with your brother so some magic will be required."

"Hey, um," Bernard started, pausing as he followed the witch down the path. "I have a holdup."

"Oh for the love of Arceus, WHAT?" Ingrid snapped, turning around to face Bernard, her eyes glowing dangerously. "What could be so important as to bring it up now after we've finally reached an agreement?"

Bernard froze, unable to even speak, cowering as he tried to stutter what he wanted to say.

 _"He wants to know my name,"_ the dark wolf growled, Bernard still whimpering in fear. _"He figures if we're going to be separated again it's important for some unknown reason."_

"And what makes him so sure your name wasn't Bernard?" Ingrid said with a dark grin, the witch moving closer to the frightened canine. "But since you asked."

Ingrid's eyes began to glow brightly, a fiery purple aura emanating from them as she drew ever nearer to Bernard. The lycanroc's world spun, his eyes rolling up into his head as he passed out on the stone floor.

* * *

Bernard found himself floating once again, outside of his own power or control, the feeling of helplessness surrounding him as he drifted. Unlike previously, when trapped inside the stone circles made by the witch, this time there was only darkness.

Bernard, however, was not alone in this darkness. He and his brother, both rockruff, floated through the void. Once again Bernard was hit with the feeling of this being a memory of some kind, and yet one that he existed in, and was a part of at the same time.

As the trio drifted through the blackness, it became apparent that this void they were in was far from an actual void. There were distinct features, walls of sorts, jutting out in semi-regular formations. It was as if they were looking at the inside of a massive crystalline structure.

Nothing seemed to fit into the usual ideas of space though, as drifting along through the empty expanse never seemed to get them any closer to any particular point. The faceted walls seemed to shift and move away from them at any given point.

Bernard began to wonder if perhaps they were, in fact, dead, as he could neither see any movement from his younger selves, nor could he himself move or even feel anything. It was as though his entire existence had become numb—he could not even smell anything, and yet he could feel himself breathing.

 _"We're going to wake up soon,"_ a thought echoed through the rock wolf's mind, though it was not the voice of his brother, or solely his brother anyhow.

The voice turned out to be rather prophetic, as the two rockruff's began to stir. Bernard and his brother slowly awakened to the reality of the strange hell around them, the frightened sounds of children in panic echoing throughout the darkness.

"Where are we?" Bernard said, trembling in fear. "Where's the braixen? Where's everything?"

"Mom!" his brother shouted, trying to move about but finding no more success than the incorporeal Bernard had moments earlier. "Mom, where are you? MOM!"

"Mom's not here, stupid," the young Bernard barked, taking a futile swipe at his brother with a paw. "She's not going to save you and make it all go away."

"Why not?" the older brother whimpered, his little tail tucked tightly between his legs. "Where is she? Where are we?"

"I don't know, but I'm not going to just hang around and find out," the small rockruff growled, trying in vain to move about in the emptiness. "Just as soon as I figure out how to move."

"You might want to figure that out soon," the older of the two pups said, trembling at some unseen danger.

Bernard began to look around frantically, ignoring the two rockruffs to search out this new and worrisome danger. Below, barely visible through the darkness, was something massive. Its body was long, massive shimmering black tentacles flowing from its back. It was truly the stuff of nightmares, and it was coming their way.

Bernard and his brother continued to struggle in the emptiness, trying to find some way to move, but if they were, it was only closer to each other as the massive beast bore down on them.

"It's going to eat us!" the young Bernard cried, as his paw finally came in contact with his brother. A devious thought filling his head. "It's, it's going to eat you!"

"Wait," his brother cried, looking down at the beast, its gold crested head now visible through the gloom. "You can't be serious! We're brothers!"

"Goodbye, Wilder," the young Bernard growls, pushing himself off his brother, sending him hurtling towards one of the facets. "Goodbye, brother."

Bernard watched as his younger brother was overtaken by the massive dragon-like creature. His younger self was hurtling through the darkness before bursting out into the world he knew amidst the remains of the shattered crystal. It was gravely quiet.

There was no sign of his brother, or Ingrid, or anyone for that matter. Bernard rolled over, starring directly into the night's sky, his brain finally confronting the shock and horror of what had just occurred. All he could do was howl into the night.

* * *

Bernard once again found himself blinking back into consciousness. The lycanroc was honestly starting to feel quite sick of all these blackouts.

"Perfect timing," Ingrid's voice rang out in the rock wolf's ears, causing Bernard to shudder slightly. "The ceremony is about to start. You and your brother will soon be free of each other."

Bernard grunted, half in acknowledgment, half in pain. Struggling to get himself up, the rock canine felt like his head was going to split open, the throbbing pain keeping him in a dazed and confused state.

It was so bad, that he was unsure whether his brother was even with him. The recent memory seemed more like a nightmare than anything that could really have happened, and yet Bernard felt true terror at the thought of being anywhere near one of those black crystals again.

Looking around, the lycanroc began to understand what was about to happen. It was a loose understanding, only granted to him through a basic understanding of the lunar cycle, and how it plagued his life.

He was in the position of the new moon, facing into a central dais upon which sat a brazier, the fire of which glowed an eerie purple. To his left, in the position of the waxing moon was the large shard of the black crystal which the witch had saved from all those years pasts. To his right was the witch herself, standing in the position of the waning moon, her eyes fixed intently upon the circle's center. Finally in the position of the full moon sat the abra, still asleep, completely unaware of the part it would play or the danger it was in.

Bernard suspected that he understood the basis of the ritual, though the true arcane nature would escape him. Basically, the witch would channel the essence of his brother through the remnants of the shard, separating the pair and temporarily storing his brother in the stone. The abra's essence would have to go somewhere, and it seemed that the witch would be taking it into herself, though why was a further mystery to Bernard. After which, the witch would transfer Wilder into the abra's body.

"So, what do we do?" Bernard asked, trying to shake off the screaming pain in his skull. "Do we need to say some chant, make weird signs with our paws, something like that?"

"You need to shut up, sit still, and don't touch anything," Ingrid growled, her focus dedicated entirely to the ritual before her. "I'm only using the ritual to vastly augment my psychic abilities. It'll allow me to transfer souls from one place to another."

"So the magic isn't really for us?" Bernard said, starting to understand a bit better. "It's for you to perform at levels you normally can't."

"What part of shut up did you not understand?" the witch sneered, taking a smaller shard of the black crystal from within her long furred sleeves.

 _"You don't need to know how it works,"_ the voice in Bernard's head growled, his brother losing patience with the younger brother. _"She'll take care of it, and then we go our separate ways. And you better hope that after I have my proper body we never see each other again."_

Bernard whimpered slightly as the realization sank in that he was really just along for the ride. He would still be required to find the witch another black crystal to complete the ritual fully, as he had agreed, so even then he would still be trapped with his brother for a time.

Ingrid scowled at the amalgamation of the two brothers, sick and tired of the two of them already, and she had only had to deal with them a few days. But soon she would be rid of them, and have herself a new source of power, perhaps one powerful enough to draw in the accursed spirit of Ignatius, and devour it once and for all.

Taking the shard in her hand, Ingrid squeezed tightly upon the jagged remnants of the crystal, her hand bleeding from the cuts, the black crystal opposite of her radiating with a strange anti-light, something akin to visible darkness.

"I call upon the powers of the Black Mirror, portal of darkness, the gateway of the end," Ingrid cried, holding her injured hand in the air, the purple fire on the central dais and the strange darkness drawn to the upheld hand. "Give me the power of the body, give me the power of the mind, and give me the power of the soul, that I may purge this worm of his power, and grant that power new life."

"I'm not a worm!" Bernard shouted, the lycanroc tired of being treated like a lesser by everyone.

"SHUT UP!" came the response from both his brother and the witch at the same time, the feeling of absolute venom in those words sinking deep into Bernard's soul.

Bernard just slumped down, resigned to watch; he really did not feel so lucky anymore, especially with how both the witch and his brother treated him. Could he really blame them? He had sold his brother out and then kicked him into the void. He was far from someone he would want anything to do with, so why should anyone else?

Something was not right with the ritual. The abra had to go somewhere, and there was no way the witch would share her body with anyone.

The swirling mixture of purple fire and darkness surrounded the witch, obscuring her form from view in a strange chaotic dance of light and shadow, swirling around her faster and faster. Bernard was unsure how the witch could stand such a display without feeling ill in the slightest.

Suddenly everything went still. Bernard could feel himself being pulled free from his body, as was his brother. The two lycanrocs' souls glared at each other with disdain, neither trusting the other.

Ingrid could care less about them as she continued on with her spell, the combined magic infusing themselves in her.

"Now, give me the power of life and death," the witch continued, her voice taking on an almost demonic tone. "That I may snuff out one light to house another."

Snuff out? House another? Bernard now understood what she was planning. She would simply do away with the abra to give Wilder a body. He was going to be responsible yet again for another life, just to get rid of his brother once more.

"We can't do this," Bernard growled, looking his brother dead in the eye. "We can't trade one life for another. We've... I've done that too many times now."

 _"You'd rather be stuck with me than hurt someone else?"_ Wilder snarled, glaring at his brother. He was not sure he could trust his brother to do anything unselfish. _"You choose now of all times to grow a conscience? When I'm this close to being rid of you?"_

"I don't think you want this," Bernard said flatly, looking at his brother. "You only want to hurt me. That's all you want."

Bernard and his brother watched as the abra's soul began to part with its body. The small sleeping pokemon twitching momentarily before its essence was fully removed.

There was not the time to argue this out. His brother could care less about others' lives at this point. If Bernard hoped to save the abra in any way, he had to act now, and he had to do something drastic.

The lycanroc could still feel his body—he was still attached to it, though only by the finest of threads. Still, this was enough for him to exert his will upon it.

 _"What are you doing?"_ Wilder screamed as he watched their body stand, piloted by Bernard. _"You can't do this! I'll stop you!"_

"If you could have, you would have," Bernard growled, his focus entirely on his body. "I won't be this creature anymore."

With all the will he could muster, the lycanroc reached out, pulling power from the earth itself, large jagged pillars of stone erupting throughout the ritual circle.

Ingrid screamed in rage, watching as the spell was broken, both Bernard and Wilder being forced back into their body and the pair fighting for control.

The witch watched as the abra's soul began to shift, the distinct glowing image of the sleeping pokemon becoming spherical and gaseous, taking on a purple glow.

A pillar of fire shot towards the lycanroc as the enraged witch attacked. Bernard only had a moment to react, pulling up a large rock from the earth to shield himself. He could still feel the heat of the witch's flame as they swept over the makeshift barrier.

Ingrid's rage knew no bounds, and infused with the excess power of the stone, neither did her powers. The witch's flame burned so hotly that the rock pillars and the shield that Bernard had raised were melting away, becoming magma which flowed freely across the ground.

 _"Idiot,"_ Wilder spat, realizing that their protection would only last a moment more. _"You've doomed us, all because you couldn't let one more life go. I hope it's painful."_

"I'm sorry, I—" Bernard paused. The heat was rapidly dissipating, the purple light of the flames dying down. "What the?" Bernard peeked over the edge of the stone shield. If she was just trying to lure him out, it was working. The lycanroc braced himself for the end.

Ingrid was standing perfectly still though, her eyes darting side to side frantically and her expression frozen in a dire rage. Behind her, the ghost-poison pokemon ghastly was licking her with its long tongue, paralyzing the delphox. The ghost gave Bernard a wink.

The lycanroc smiled dumbly and gave a quick bow in thanks before turning to run off. The witch would only be paralyzed for a short time, and there was no point in waiting for that to wear off.

 _"Where now?"_ Wilder asked, the dark lycanroc seeming to be less moody than he was a few moments ago. _"Not back to those weird cultists who kept us in a cage I hope."_

"No, we're going to go find one of those stones," Bernard said with a smirk, the lycanroc heading deep into the mountains, away from the witch's lair. "Maybe we can find someone else to help fix what I've done. But for now, all I can say is I'm sorry."

 _"You're sorry?"_ the midnight lycanroc growled, unimpressed by the attestation of wrongdoing. _"You think sorry fixes any of this?"_

"No, I don't," Bernard said, knowing full well that it most certainly would not fix anything. "But it doesn't mean I wasn't wrong. And I'll do my best to fix it, I will."

There was a sense of calmness between them for a moment, but it would never last. Wilder would return to tormenting him soon enough, and he deserved it in part. But at least now he understood, and with that understanding, he could try and do right, by both of them.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Storming Auras

Shadows danced across stone walls as Jude and Fleur made their way deep into one of the ancient structures. The lopunny hummed softly to herself as she stepped gracefully through the dim candlelight, leading Jude to one of her favorite rooms in the ancient temple.

Jude, however, was starting to feel uneasy. It felt unnecessary to travel this deep just to talk. This felt more like a trap, one meant to get rid of him once and for all. They had already taken Shard, no doubt having devoured her, or maybe taken her off to their equivalent of a daycare center, the likes of which he swiftly cast away from his mind with disgust.

The twisting tunnels continued for about a hundred meters more, the walls of which were slowly becoming more intricately decorated with each passing step. The bas-relief of the walls, at first badly damaged, were starting to become more noticeable, showing the depictions of various pokemon and humans working together in a multitude of tasks for survival.

Finally, the pair came to a large spacious room, a clear clean pool of water at the room's center bubbling softly in the rays of the sun, which trickled down from several openings on the ceiling. The wall decorations in this room were less worn by the ravages of time and war, images of pokemon and humans working, battling, and playing together. A great central motif centered on a single pair: an elderly woman and a strange feline-like pokemon surrounded in a halo of light, always floating beside her, a crown of some sort upon its head.

"Who's that?" Jude asked, trying to break the silence as he entered the great room. "Are they the founders of your cult?"

"We're not a cult," Fleur huffed, the lopunny removing the intricate ceremonial outfit from her body before stepping into the pool of water. "But to answer your question, not even my master knew. He, however, said he always felt great shame in this room, as though that strange pokemon was judging him. Come, join me in the pool, it'll help you relax."

Jude paused a moment. He could understand what the lopunny meant by her master's comments of being judged by that strange statue. Its eyes, even timeworn, seemed to look down upon him in solemn judgment of his life. Whatever that creature was, in life it must have been both magnificent and terrible to behold.

"Well?" Fleur asked, snapping Jude out of his self-imposed stupor. "Would you care to join me?"

"But," Jude said hesitantly, trying to figure out an excuse as to why he should decline the offer. "You're naked."

"Oh, don't even," Fleur said, splashing water on the absol. It was quite warm, the pool likely a sort of natural hot spring. "Both your friends are naked, you're naked, almost everyone here is naked. I only recently even began to wear clothes."

"Why did you start wearing clothes?" the absol asked, reluctantly trotting over to the pool. He was wet now, and there really was no good excuse he could think of to get out of this. "It seems very out of place, like you're trying to make yourself look more important than you really are."

"That's...a very astute observation, and partially correct," the lopunny said, sinking deeper into the water. "I very recently had the role of leadership thrust upon me. My master, Hearth's friend, was killed when another group of pokemon attacked us a few seasons ago. As my master's primary pupil, the role of leader fell to me, long before I was ready for it to. It was his dying request."

"So you're trying to make yourself look more impressive than you feel you are," Jude said, stepping into the warm water. "I know a thing or two about feeling like you need to prove yourself."

"Is that why you want to fight with Hildegard?" Fleur asked, her eyes studying the absol, searching for something that made her better understand him. "Do you need to prove something to yourself, or to your friends?"

"It isn't that simple," Jude growled, splashing water with his paw as he tried to hold back his anger. "She killed my trainer in cold blood, then she ran away from justice, from us."

Fleur smiled. She may have been new to the role, but at least Jude was an easy individual to read—he wore his emotions on his sleeve as it were. Jude obviously had issues with being abandoned, and there likely was a deeper hurt there. The lopunny just needed to figure out how best to get him to further talk about it.

"I know a little about that," Fleur replied, taking on a more relaxed tone and position. Jude was a wound up spring, and she needed to wind him down before tackling the hard stuff. "My master and Hildegard fought when she first came here."

"Who won, and who was your master anyhow?" Jude asked, seeming to perk up a little at the thought of Hilde fighting with someone Hearth held in such high regard. "It must have been an epic battle if you got her to stay."

"The winner was less than clear," Fleur said, frowning a little as she thought back to that day. The memory of her master still caused her some pain when thinking about him. "My master knew just what people needed to open up, and Hildegard needed a fight. But my master was old, and even though he was a delphox and had type advantage, he never would have beaten her in a fair fight. So instead he had her fight herself."

"What do you mean?" Jude asked, a little confused at how such a thing could have happened. "Did he use confuse ray on her or something?"

"No, hypnosis and dream eater," Fleur corrected him, the lopunny sullenly looking down at the water before her. "He put her to sleep, than manipulated her dreams so that she thought she was still fighting him. All the while he used dream eater to dig deeper into her past, find out what her deep pain originated from."

"He could have finished her at any time while she was asleep," Jude growled, looking a bit upset at the way this fight had been played out. "Why didn't he just fire blast her into the void?"

"I don't know what Hearth told you about him. I imagine only what she remembers of him in his youth," the lopunny replied, starting to feel much less sure of herself. She needed to figure out how to somehow direct this back to Jude. "He killed a human girl and created an evil witch. He was on the brink of becoming a terrible monster in many respects, but he stepped away from the abyss. I don't know the details of your trainer's death, as he didn't go into them. But I do know that he wouldn't have let Hilde stay were he not sure that there was goodness in her."

"She's a lost cause," Jude snarled, once more batting at the bubbling water in his anger. "If she had any sense of honor she would have stayed to face justice instead of running off."

"You seem to fixate a lot on her leaving," Fleur replied calmly, seeing an opening for her to turn things away from Sage and back to Jude. "Is there a reason you're so worried about that? Perhaps it's something you'd like to talk about. It's just us, remember. Not even Hearth or your little weavile friend will know about it."

"How do you even know about Shard?" Jude snapped, realizing all of a sudden that the lopunny had not even been around when Shard vanished. "Where is she? What are you hiding?"

"She's fine," Fleur replied, almost exhausted as Jude once more went off on a tangent. "The pokemon in the valley tell me what's going on before I even show up. I knew there were three of you coming in, but as you'll note, I don't know her name. I've not yet met her."

Jude stopped for a moment to think about that. She was right—Shard's name had not been brought up once in the entire conversation. Perhaps there was no grand conspiracy here and the lopunny did mean well. There had been no attack, nothing that would even suggest ill will towards him or any of them for that matter.

"Why do you want to know about me anyhow?" Jude said, looking at Fleur with just a bit of suspicion left. "The only person whose ever really taken an interest in that sort of thing was Hearth."

"Hearth was taught in the same school as my master," the lopunny said with a smile, her friendly demeanor disarming his suspicious nature. "And I was taught by him. They both knew that the only way to truly find the problems in your life was to look inside, not outside."

"And why should I trust you with my life's story?" Jude asked, though at this point Fleur could tell it was a genuine question and not just another stonewalling tactic. "Really this place all just seems like a big cult, and you're trying to suck me into it with promises of healing my soul and finding inner peace."

"Why don't I tell you why I came here then?" Fleur replied, taking a deep breath to steel herself. "Two of my children were devoured by a seviper, eaten alive. By the time I was able to get them out, they had already died of asphyxiation."

Jude studied the lopunny, his eyes scrutinizing her as she shared her story with him. Every emotion, every movement, every word were on trial in the absol's mind. He had to know that this was real, that she had not just made it up to trick him into sharing his own pain.

Fleur was visibly shaken, the lopunny wiping away a tear as she tried to compose herself. Her body sinking deeper into the warm relaxing waters of the pool.

"I didn't want to talk about it for years," Fleur continued, the lopunny fighting back her tears as she spoke. "Master knew from the day that I came here. He knew all our problems. Being psychic helps with that, but having lived life, that was his true gift."

"He sounds nice and all," Jude said, somewhat sympathetic, but not entirely convinced. "But he's not around anymore, so why should I talk to _you?_ "

"You'll just have to trust me to do my best," Fleur said, looking at the absol with glistening, watery eyes. "I know what it's like to lose a family, so I can at least help you with that pain."

Finally he was satisfied. The absol not only understood that the lopunny's pain was indeed real, but that she had been able to move forward from her traumatic past.

"I can't say that I know what it's like to lose a child, or even children," Jude said, begrudgingly admitting that perhaps there were people out there whose lives were at least as troubled as his own. "I mean...it's because of me that my dad got eaten by a feraligatr, and that's the wild, things happen. But what my mom and sisters did afterwards, that was far worse."

* * *

The wind howled through the plains as the family of absol trudged solemnly along a well worn path. To either side of them were vast grasslands, fertile but devoid of any animal life. This was a part of the world that few dared venture into, and only if the pathway was clear.

The reason for the deathly silence in the tall grass, Jude had been told, was that there were massive sinkholes that dotted the landscape. Pokemon, and even humans, who wandered into the tall grass without knowing where they were had fallen frequently into these pits, some never to be seen again.

The family treaded this way because it meant that there would be less danger from other pokemon, as the recent flood of their home had weakened everyone considerably. It was the straightest and shortest way out of the valley which they had once lived in, though it was also the most dangerous, and staying on the path meant that they would not have any safe way to escape should trouble come down the other way.

Jen, Lex, and his mother led the way, his two sisters able to easily keep up with their mother. Jude, however, was lagging behind, and the gap was growing with each passing moment.

"Uh, Jude's falling behind again," Jen grumbled, looking back to see her brother now a good fifteen or twenty feet behind the group. "He's going to get us killed at this rate."

"It's not his fault. We didn't have to swim through the flood like he did," Lex said, feeling a bit guilty at getting so far ahead of Jude during the storm. "If we take a break he'll be able to keep up."

"We can't take a break," their mother said sternly, the large female absol having taken control of the situation since their father's untimely demise. Her stoic demeanor hid a very real and deep suffering at his loss. "The path is the only safe way through the grasslands, and though it isn't frequently traveled, if we're caught on it we're as good as dead."

"So what? We just leave him behind?" Lex asked, rather shocked at the callousness being shown by her mother and sister. "He's still our brother, and your son. We'll be so much less a pack without him."

"Lex, normally I would agree with you," her mother said, her voice still stern and cold as she continued to pad her way down the path. "But the truth is, even if he makes it out with us, any new male who would take me, or either of you, would chase him off in a heartbeat, or outright kill him."

Lex sighed, looking back at Jude who was falling even farther behind. It was clear that the long trek was starting to wear on him, and if the family did not stop to rest soon, he would simply vanish from sight.

"So what do we do then?" Jen asked, looking to her mother for advice. "I mean we can't help him, and even if he makes it, we won't be able to keep him around. I really don't want to watch some male tear him apart because he's too stubborn and stupid to back down."

"We'll know soon enough what his fate will be," their mother said simply, pushing on down the pathway. "I will miss him, but nature does not have time for the weak."

"What—What do you mean we'll know soon enough?" Lex asked, her whole body tingling with fear as her mother spoke those words, almost like she knew something they did not. "Is there danger? Another storm?"

"You will see soon enough," the elder absol said somberly, marching onward. "But do not dwell on it. He may yet surprise us."

The two sisters looked at each other with confusion. It was clear that their mother had something in mind, or perhaps knew something they did not, but she was not willing to share with them at this time.

The trio walked silently for miles, while in the back, Jude continued to lag behind. He was giving it his all and then digging deep for more, but the long walk was draining him of his stamina, and his feet were starting to feel numb underneath him. He needed a rest, but he knew if he stopped even for a moment that his family would leave him.

After several hours, the family came to a stop. In front of them lay a large chasm that split the ground. Where once there had been a bridge, there only remained the ruins of one, bits of wood and rope dangled down into the gully.

"Looks like it's about ten feet down," Jen said, looking over the ledge, her eyes fixated on the skeletal remains of several pokemon, most of them showing signs of broken limbs. "Guess we find a way around it then?"

"You can't leave the path," their mother reminded them calmly, her hind quarters wiggling slightly before making a massive leap across to the other side. "Jen, you're next, then Lex."

"Shouldn't one of us stay here and help Jude across?" Lex asked, a bit puzzled why her mother had not even mentioned the young absol boy. "Maybe if you jump back you could carry him, or two of us together could make it."

"He's too big for that," Jen said, taking a few steps back before making a running leap at the chasm, the female nearly crashing into her mother as she overshot her jump. "He's got to do it on his own, or he'll just drag you and anyone else trying to help down with him."

Lex looked back down the path. Jude was quite a ways off and it would take him nearly ten minutes to get to them. She bit her lip, mulling over the words that her sister had said, knowing deep down that she was right.

"Are we going to at least see if he makes it?" Lex asked, unsure if she wanted to or not. "I mean, he won't know where we went if he does make the jump."

"We'll rest a short distance away, give it an hour or so," their mother said, feeling that Lex had a point in this. "I will at that point see if he made it or not."

"And—if he didn't?" Jen asked, knowing full well the answer, but even she found herself having a hard time swallowing it as the time drew nearer.

Their mother said nothing, instead sitting down to watch as her youngest daughter took her turn with the jump.

Lex paced back and forth a few times, trying to better judge the distance, finding the closest point between the two. She was not sure that she could make it herself, the absol feeling extremely fatigued from the long walk.

Finally, she mustered up the courage to go for it. Racing towards the edge, she leaped across, soaring gracefully through the air. She could feel her forepaws touching down safely on the ground as she landed, only to have her back half fall into nothingness.

Her muscles tensed and her claws gripped into the soil as she tried to stop herself from sliding back. Jen moved in to help, only to be stopped by her mother. Lex was on her own with this, the younger sister clawing at the side of the gully, trying to push herself up and out.

With a great deal of strain, Lex finally found a foothold, and leveraging it, pushed herself up and onto the safety of the other side. The absol hyperventilated in both fear and exhaustion as her sister came over to help her onto her feet.

"You two head down the path for about ten minutes," their mother said, still sitting, her eyes fixed now on Jude who was just coming to where they had been. "I'll catch up with you shortly."

The two sisters nodded, Lex lifting herself up to follow her sister as she walked down the path. She hoped that her brother would make it, but she very much doubted that he would. She gazed at Jude one last time before turning.

Jude could only watch as his two sisters trotted off into the woods across the chasm he just came to. The youngest of the absols also looked down into it just as Jen had earlier.

"You're going to have to do it on your own, Jude," his mother said, looking across the way at him. The female absol stared him right in the eye. Jude looked back down into the pit. He could see the various skeletons scattered below, the absol shuddering a little at the thought of falling in. If he did, he knew that no one would come down after him. He would die, alone, likely of his injuries or starvation. Either way it would be long and painful.

"Can't you help me?" Jude asked, hoping that his mother would come to his rescue. "Maybe throw me across or something?"

"Jude, you've already cost one life with your weakness," his mother snapped, showing she was in no mood to discuss this. "Now you need to prove you're strong enough to survive this trial, or you will never survive with us elsewhere. We can't carry you through life all the time, Jude."

Jude gave a growl. He was angry with himself already for what had happened to his father, and now he felt he was being punished for it again. He hated this, he hated his mother, but mostly he hated himself.

"I'll show you just how strong I am!" the little absol shouted, his rage blinding him to his own weariness. "I'll show you I'm strong enough to do anything!"

"Jude, calm down, think," his mother said, trying to caution her son with the shred of hope she had left for him. "You have time to rest, use it."

But these words feel on deaf ears as Jude bolted towards the chasm, his muscles screaming with exhaustion as he leaped into the air. At first it looked as if he might make it—his trajectory looked good, but he soon started to lose forward momentum.

Jude screamed in terror as he watched himself begin to plummet downward, his small frame crashing into the opposing wall and tumbling down to the ground below. He lied in a heap, pain coursing along his entire body. He trembled under the burden of his failure, looking up into the empty sky hopelessly.

"Mom?" Jude cried, the fear and pain in his voice echoing down the chasm. "Mom, please help! Mom!"

But there was no reply, the female absol having already walked away, turning a deaf ear to the pleas of her son. He would not have survived much longer anyhow.

* * *

"So your mother just left you down there?" Fleur asked, the look of shock on her face telling the absol a lot about her. "I can't imagine any mother being so cruel as to abandon their children to die of starvation."

"Not everyone is willing to go to the lengths you did to try and save your children," Jude said flatly, the absol at this point feeling rather low. "Have you ever considered what would have happened had you died trying to save your other children?"

"I didn't think about it at the time," Fleur admitted, knowing had she died fighting the seviper with the zangoose that her remaining children would have likely perished. "I only knew my children were in trouble, I had to help."

"My mother always thought about it," the absol said, getting up out of the warm waters of the spring. "It was all about survival. If someone had to go so the others could live, that was what had to happen."

"Did your trainer get you out?" the lopunny asked, following suit and getting out of the springs, the rabbit pokemon wringing her ears out like a damp rag. "I would assume that's what happened."

"No," Jude replied, looking up at the relief of the strange feline pokemon, the same look of judgement weighing heavily upon his soul. "I got lucky twice. First, as I was about to starve to death, a stantler fell into the chasm and I guess it broke its neck, so I had food for a bit. The second time was when another storm blew through. It knocked a tree down from the forest on the other side of the chasm. I was able to climb out using its limbs, but by the time I got out, my family was long gone."

"So you looked for them then?" Fleur asked, a bit intrigued that the absol would look for someone who had treated him so cruelly. "But you never found them did you?"

"No, I was caught before then," the absol remarked, looking away from the giant carving and back to the lopunny. "Hildegard was just a riolu back then, but she still easily mopped the floor with me. She always was dedicated to her training."

"That does bring us full circle, doesn't it?" Fleur said, looking pensively at the absol with a deep penetrating look. "Are you certain you want to fight her? I can tell you she would more than happily do so."

"I'll bet she would," Jude growled, the dark type pokemon pacing back and forth, agitated by the thought of confronting Hilde. "I need to fight her, I need to avenge my trainer. I'm stronger than I ever was. I can take her."

"Alright," Fleur said simply, turning towards the hallway. "I'll make the arrangements. You'll be able to fight her by this time tomorrow."

"Wait, what?" Jude asked, trotting after the lopunny. "What do you mean arrangements? Why can't I just go fight her now?"

"I need to get the old arena cleaned up," the rabbit-like pokemon replied, softly walking back down the hallway. "Hilde needs to be informed, your friends need to be rounded up too. It isn't like all of that doesn't take time."

"I was just going to find her," Jude muttered, his claws clicking against the stone floors as he followed. "Call her out, nothing so formal as this."

"Hilde wouldn't accept that sort of challenge," Fleur said, almost smiling at the thought of the absol trying that. "She's been reprimanded one too many times for fighting outside the arena, destroying crops and buildings in her wake."

"She wouldn't, or you wouldn't?" Jude said, quite observant that the problems described seemed more to affect the Sanctuary than they did Hilde. "Either way, it'll give me a chance to rest, and I'll be ready for her then."

Fleur kept quiet, knowing full well she had been called out rightly on the fact she had ascribed to Hilde what she herself didn't want. The lopunny did not need the two most stubborn pokemon she had ever met fighting their way through all of Sanctuary, not with all the recent destruction.

Still, she had a lot of work ahead of her as she stepped out into the sunlight. She wondered how her master would have felt about letting the two fight, though she suspected that he would have likely done the same. Some problems need to be fought out, not talked about.

* * *

Hilde frowned as she wandered through the berry fields. She had shown up to help with the harvest of this year's crops. Having destroyed previous crops, and helped in planting this one, the lucario wanted to see the fruits of her labor.

The only problem was there was no one around. The fields were deserted, as were most of the structures that were frequently used by the pokemon for various activities.

The sound of work off in the distance though drew her attention. The lucario headed straight for the sound of moving stone and working pokemon.

"Must be a large project to need so many," she muttered to herself, as she pushed through the thick vegetation in her path.

Her route seemed awfully familiar, as though she had walked it once before, though she could not quite put her paw on it. The lucario pressed onward, driven by her stark curiosity.

Finally rounding the corner, she came upon the old arena, the one which she and the old delphox had fought in nearly a year ago, memories of the fight flooding her mind.

"Oh, Hilde," Fleur's voice rang before the lucario had spotted her, the lopunny abandoning a basket of rubble to speak with the lucario. "What might you be doing here?" Her tone sounded facetious and Hildegard could also sense it with her aura.

"I was going to help out with the harvest," Hilde started, looking out on the arena at the massive crowd of pokemon, "but nobody was in the fields, or the schools, or anywhere. I figured it must be important to have everyone just drop what they're doing."

"I needed their help in cleaning up the old arena," the lopunny said, looking out over the group and beaming with pride. "It actually ended up pretty damaged when all the ghost wents on a rampage after that eevee and his crew attacked."

"Why don't we just have the golurk help again?" Hilde uttered pragmatically, watching the large group of pokemon dragging rubble out of the arena. "It would be faster."

"The ghosts still won't respond to me," Fleur said with disappointment. "They either don't see me as the rightful leader, or they are upset over the events of the attack. Either way, I can't get their help."

Hilde said nothing else, as she honestly could see either as the reason why the ghosts of the land would do nothing to help them. It made the lucario wonder for a moment whether or not she had judged the old delphox too harshly. It seemed that the dead held him in higher regard than they did the lopunny who now stood in his place.

"Should I help then?" Hildegard asked, gazing down into the arena. She wondered how so much damage could have happened between her fight with the old sage and now.

"You'd be tired then," the lopunny replied gratefully, eyeing the lucario with slight worry. "I don't think you should take that risk with your opponent. He's no push over."

"Hold on," Hildegard cut her off curtly. "My opponent? What is this?"

"Oh, you don't know?" Fleur's facetiousness returned, getting on Hilde's nerves. "Someone has officially challenged you. An absol by the name of Jude."

"Jude?" Hilde asked dumbfoundedly, her ears perking at the name. "That...little punk?" Fleur stifled her laughter as hard as she could. Seeing Hildegard's eyes widen when she mentioned the absol's name was endearing for the lopunny, as it confirmed their past connections. A whole story could be made up just from the look on Hildegard's face. "He followed me all the way out here?" She scoffed in disbelief. "That's incredible. He was always so stubborn."

"Give him a break," Fleur advised, putting her hand on her hip as she looked at the lucario with concern. "He had a rough childhood, indulged me on some harrowing events. It colored his perspective on some things is all."

"Are Hearth and Shard here as well?" Hildegard asked, folding her arms over her chest with a snort. "A houndoom and weavile. One's more serious...and the other can't be bothered to be serious for a moment."

"Well, I met Hearth," Fleur said, folding her own arms impatiently. "I know that a weavile came in as well, but she wandered off before I met her."

"My old team," Hilde grunted, the lucario not overly thrilled at this turn of events. "You have any plans on telling me about this? Or don't you trust me?"

"I was busy helping Jude," Fleur said with a bit of a huff, the lopunny finding it hard not to be agitated at her. "Hearth brought him here specifically for Sage's help, but he's not here anymore, so I had to make a decision on how to get him the best help."

"And it wasn't just telling him to go home and take care of Mom?" Hilde asked, incredulous that there was any other answer than that. "She's probably worried sick with all three of them gone."

"Mom?" Fleur started before her expression changed immediately, as if she better understood what Hilde had just said.

"Not my Mom, I—," Hilde choked mid-sentence purposefully. "I meant my trainer's mother. Look, you tell that snot that whatever chip on his shoulder he's got, he should just take it home," Hildegard growled, turning to leave the area. "Tell them I'm fine, and that I don't want to go back with them."

"They didn't come out here to bring you home," Fleur replied, the lucario stopping dead in her tracks. "Jude wants to avenge his master's death. He's dead set on fighting you, and I think you need to fight him too."

Hilde's ear twitched slightly, her anger building to a boil. She had no idea how to reply to Fleur without sending some of the anger of that accusation at her, even though she knew she was just the messenger.

"I don't want to fight him," the lucario managed, trying to keep her cool even though the glow of her bountiful aura showed she was anything but. "Tell him to go home to Mom, and cast that silly idea out of his head."

"He needs this, Hildegard," Fleur said, sounding almost a little desperate to convince the lucario. "I've never known you to say no to a fight. Why now? Are you scared of him?"

"I have type advantage, more experience, and more training," Hilde said with a snort, the lucario's pride hurt by the insinuation that she might be beat. "I'd be more worried for him. He's stubborn, stupidly so. He won't quit when he's beat, and while I personally don't want to kill him, I will if he makes me."

"You two are a lot alike in that regard," the lopunny said with a scowl, particularly upset that the lucario seemed to have learned nothing in her stay. "Couple of hotheads who can't say no to a fight."

"Our trainer said the same thing a couple of times," Hildegard remarked, surprisingly unphased by the lopunny's outburst. "You and he are right too, this fight might be good for Jude. He hasn't killed anyone yet, so maybe he can still be saved."

"You don't have to hold on to that baggage, Hildegard," Fleur said, turning to the lucario with deep apprehension now. "Whatever happened between you and your master is done. I don't believe you did it on purpose. I wish that master had shared more about it with me, and maybe someday you will, but you need to let it go."

"Whether or not I did it on purpose is irrelevant," Hilde growled, turning to the arena. "He's dead, and I've created my own Witchfox in the process. Unlike that old hag though, I'm not afraid to permanently solve the problem."

"So you'll fight him then?" Fleur asked hopefully.

"Fine," Hilde growled, sitting down to meditate beside the arena. Her mind once again drawn back to the fight with the old delphox. "I'll help him get over himself."

* * *

It was hours later, and the crowds of pokemon who had helped to clear out the ancient battle ground now sat around the edge, chattering among themselves about the upcoming fight. Fleur had invited all who helped to stay and watch the event, much to Hildegard's protestation, but when the lopunny asked what another suitable reward might be for their help, the lucario had no answer.

Hildegard stood tall on one side of the arena, detecting the auras of all who encircled her. As the lucario looked out over the crowd, she was amazed at how many of them she recognized. Her squadron of trainee guards, the meganium whose fields Hilde had destroyed fighting with Bernard, as well was the fat grovyle she had briefly met after the death of the old delphox were all there.

Her teammates Hearth and Shard were there as well. It was surreal seeing them after all this time. They look like they have not changed one bit. Hearth was seated next a peculiarly large gray, purple, and pink lizard, one unlike Hildegard has ever seen. The two of them seemed to be chatting in an unusually casual manner, as though they knew each other. Occasionally, the strange pokemon would glance over at Sol, a look of passion in her gaze, causing the grassy lizard to blush and turn away when their eyes connected.

Shard on the other hand seemed almost uninterested in the fight itself, instead going around with the azumarill in the assault vest, trading snow cones for berries of various sorts. One of the customers exchanged a red and gold sash for enough snow cones for their entire family. Hildegard wondered what they had used for flavoring, though the bright red color made her suspect that they were razz-flavored. The pair seemed inseparable, pulling foolish pranks as they made their way through the crowd.

Hildegard's attention then returned to the arena itself. Jude was entering from the stairs on the opposite side, sporting that same stupid, arrogant glare that he always seemed to have. It was nostalgic seeing the familiar scowl on the absol's face. Once he got to his side of the arena, he started pacing back and forth as he waited impatiently for the fight to begin. He snarled at Hildegard, though the lucario was unphased.

"Jude," she said only loud enough for him to hear, the lucario looking him dead in the eye. "I don't accept fights from wimps, and you know that. To even get this far means you have my respect as a combatant, and as such I'm giving you one chance to back out. Take it if you know what's good for you. Go home to Mom and take care of her. She needs you there."

"We all got released," Jude shouted, his fur bristling as he faced the lucario. "None of us have a home now, and it's all thanks to you!"

"Jude," Hilde started, trying not to let the absol's anger get to her. She was shocked at this unexpected news, but could not bring herself to apologize for her assumption. "I didn't know she'd do that."

"I don't need your pity, Hildegard," Jude spat, the absol's dark aura beginning to shine forth. "I'm here to avenge our trainer's death, and put right the wrongs you leave wherever you go."

All feelings of sympathy washed away from her. "Your funeral," the lucario stated, her own aura blazing brightly in the midday sun. "Just don't go telling people I didn't give you a chance."

The sight of the two auras side by side caused further excitement in the crowd, the spectating pokemon cheering loudly as the lopunny mother stepped to the center of the ring, clearing her voice as she addressed them.

"I am aware that this is an unusual event," the lopunny started, holding her hands up to let everyone know she was going to speak. "We do not encourage violence here, and yet sometimes it is necessary for the healing process. You all have been invited for the help you provided in cleaning up the arena, but I must remind all of you, this is not for show or for sport, but for healing and growth. Be respectful of this please!"

Hildegard grunted in approval—at least the lopunny had a sense of the gravity of this match, and was treating it with the respect that it deserved. The lucario waited for her to exit the arena before turning her attention to Jude.

Fleur turned, walking back up the stairs and taking her place in the ruins of the judges' box. The lopunny examined both combatants to ensure they were ready.

"Begin!" Fleur's voice echoed through the arena. Jude muscles tensed, ready to pounce on the lucario. With blinding speed, he made the first move. The absol's form seemed to be near perfect as he launched himself towards the lucario, claws outstretched and fangs bared as he closed in on her, ready for a counter attack.

The counter never came. Crashing through the now-apparent decoy of Hildegard's image, the absol looked at the ground, only her footprints on the dusty floor remaining. He looked up in the horror of realization that his speed was still far slower than hers, as he saw what appeared to be an army of lucario dashing towards him.

"Double Team?" the absol asked in shock before feeling the iron fist of the lucario strike against his face.

He wasn't even sure which one had done it. The attack barreled in so fast that it was disorienting. Jude tried to keep calm, but fear was starting to set in rapidly. He had thought maybe if he could outpace Hildegard, he would have a chance, but he grossly underestimated the amount of power that Hilde had gained in the wild.

Another blinding strike, what felt like a kick to his side, blasted the absol towards the center of the arena, his body crashing and rolling across the dirt as he tried to stand up, his body screaming in pain and begging him to just stay down.

Jude tried to focus, his eyes blurry from the two powerful blows he received. He needed a plan on how to counter this, to fight back against the lucario, but it was already starting to feel hopeless. She looked like she was everywhere at once.

As the blurry visage of Hildegard once again closed in, Jude lashed out, the absol screaming at the top of his lungs as he lunged at the lucario, his claws and teeth at the ready, and this time they found their mark.

Unfortunately for Jude their mark turned out to be a slightly bemused, but mostly very angry lucario. He honestly was lucky she had filed down her chest spike, or he would have found himself impaled upon it.

"Had enough?" Hilde asked, looking down at the absol clinging to her tooth and claw. "I'm cool with letting you have the last hit if it makes you feel better."

Her answer came in the form of Jude biting down onto her shoulder, shaking his head back and forth. The bite was mostly absorbed by the dirty jacket that the lucario wore, though it did not matter to Jude—he had a firm grasp and he was not going to give it up.

"Jude, let go," Hilde growled, trying to push the adamant absol off of her. "Jude, stop it, I'm serious. Let it GO!"

The lucario finally shoved the dark type off, but even managing that, Jude had refused to let go. A loud rip filled the air as Jude fell to the ground, a large strip of cloth in his mouth.

"You—you," Hilde stammered, looking at the tear in her jacket as if she had just lost an arm. "You'll wish you had never done that."

Jude gulped as he watched Hildegard's appearance darken. The absol knew full well that this was going to end poorly for him upon realizing who the jacket once belonged to. It was so dirty and tattered that he did not even recognize it. The absol backed up slowly as Hildegard began to seethe with unbridled rage.

"You ripped his jacket!" the lucario shouted, her scream of rage almost like the roar of a tsunami. "I'll kill you!"

"Run, Jude!" came a cry from the sidelines.

Jude looking up long enough to see the horrified look of Shard just before feeling the side of his face collide with Hildegard's punch. The absol only had the briefest of moments to realize and appreciate that the lucario had been pulling her punches up until this point.

Flying through the air, Jude was only barely beginning to feel the pain of the last strike when he felt another powerful blow send him earthward. Likely it had been a kick of some kind, but he had no way to tell for sure. All he knew was his body hit the ground hard, his head spinning.

A hail of punches began to rain down upon the defenseless absol, each blow carefully placed as to not hit the same spot twice in a row, spreading the pain across his entire body.

Jude began to wonder if this would let up. Would she even stop? Was he going to die a lifeless lump of pulverized flesh?

Tears began to stream down the absol's face, the tears of someone who has come to the realization that they had misspent their life, and was now going to die a horrible, painful death.

There was a brief pause, and Jude foolishly dared to look up, only to see the lucario preparing a powerful downward kick. Jude shut his eyes, knowing full well that the blow would easily crush his skull when it made contact.

"NO!" Shard screamed, throwing herself in front of the kick, barely able to create an ice barrier around Jude as she did so. Dust plumed across the arena from the sheer impact of the blow. The weavile's body was sent flying into a large crater in the wall of the arena, the one that Hilde had sent Sagefox into when she first fought him. The kick continued downward, smashing the makeshift barrier.

Hildegard paused, looking at the cloud of dust that had been her former ally. Ignoring the badly beaten Jude, she looked dumbfounded at the crater.

"Shard!" Puru screamed, jumping down into the arena and moving rocks and debris off of the dark-type and picking him up in her arms. "Oh, Arceus! Shard, why!?"

The lucario watched in shock, staggering her way over to the pair, the azumarill cradling the weavile in his arms, trying desperately to rouse her. The crowd was dead silent, sadness lingering through the air.

The sound of a sharp breath caught the pair off guard as Shard began breathing again, coughing and sputtering as she slowly opened her eyes, mustering a pathetic laugh as if she had pulled the biggest prank of all time.

"You shouldn't have done that," Hilde growled, the mix of emotions she felt causing her aura to flare up. "I could have killed you. That absol is not worth your life, you idiot!"

"He's worth it to me, you big bully," the weavile wheezed, straining to keep herself awake, the red and gold sash uncoiling from around her arm. "We're family after all."

"A focus sash?" Hildegard muttered in bewilderment, thinking back to just before the battle when the weavile had received it as payment for the snowcones. "Shard, you lucky little—you cheated death with that."

"If I hadn't stopped you, you would have killed him," Shard said softly, the weavile still struggling to stay awake. "Hey, I've got a real headache. Think maybe you could take me to the pokemon center?" All tension in the field drained away. The fight was officially over.

"Yeah," Hildegard said with a barely visible smile, coming to her senses now. "We'll get you and Jude to Nurse Joy right away."

* * *

It was a little more than a full day before either Jude or Shard were well enough to be seen by others. Fleur though had made sure they received the best of care.

Shard had received the worst of it, even though she only took one blow. If it had not been for the focus sash, she would have been killed for sure. Jude on the other hand was morally crushed and emotionally scarred, but the beating he had received would not have killed him, though that final blow certainly would have if not for Shard's intervention. It was incredible how well things turned out thanks to that twist in fate with the sash, Fleur thought, but the lopunny regretted not stepping in to prevent one or the other from receiving the death blow.

Outside, Hearth and Hildegard waited, both pokemon wading in the other's presence for a while before starting any sort of conversation. Hearth knew why Hilde had reacted like she had. Jude damaged the last thing the lucario had from her trainer, and while the jacket could be stitched, it would never be the same.

Hildegard had done a great deal of soul searching after the fateful battle. The lucario realized that she too held on tightly to the past. Her trainer was dead, and not even black magic was going to bring him back. She needed to focus on the family she still had, at least for now.

Finally, the pair were allowed to see the two recovering injured. Jude was laying out on a pile of rags, while Shard was laid out on a makeshift bed. Both pokemon had sticks bound to broken bones, and bandages covering their more serious cuts.

Hildegard and Hearth both made their way over to the pair. The lucario kept her distance while Hearth licked at Shard's cheek.

"I was told we were going to see Nurse Joy," Shard complained, her little body still sore. "She takes like five minutes and we're done. It's been a day now, and my everything itches."

"She had other appointments, dear," Hearth said softly, the houndoom licking over the weavile gently. "What you need is a good cleaning."

"No, Mom, stop," Shard laughed weakly, struggling against those licks as best as she could. "I just bathed last month."

Hildegard felt a warmth in her chest. Watching those two bicker brought back fond memories of a happier time. The lucario turned to Jude, who was sulking in the corner, looking pathetic with the mess of bandages and splints across his frame.

"You know something," Hilde said, sternly taking a step towards the absol. "I think that he loved you best of all."

"Who?" Jude asked with a trembling voice, appearing fearful of the lucario.

"Our trainer," Hilde said, sitting down next to the absol, her face having softened somewhat in the past few days. "He always was talking about how proud he was of you at the dojo, and how he admired your guts and tried so hard to impress him. He cherished you greatly."

"You're—You're making that up," the absol stammered, fighting back the tears welling up in his eyes. "You were always his favorite."

"No, I was his first," Hildegard said, leaning against the stone wall and giving a very slight smile at Jude. "There's a special bond between a trainer and their first pokemon. But you...you had all the potential in the world, and he saw it."

Jude said nothing, tears rolling down his cheeks as the lucario continued telling him about how much his master had admired his determination, his willpower, his drive to overcome any obstacle in his way.

"I should have stayed," Hildegard finally said with a sigh, the lucario hanging her head in shame. "I just couldn't face myself. I couldn't face you. It was an accident, Jude, but I still did it, and I blamed myself for it."

"We know you did, Hildegard," Hearth said, coming over to lie by the pair, Shard now being occupied and entertained by her worried azumarill friend. "We all face grief differently, even us dark types. I could tell how hard it hit you. After all, why else would you run from it all into a land and lifestyle you weren't familiar with." Hearth smiled. "I knew you would be fine regardless." Hildegard huffed, feeling somewhat flattered, though she still dwelt on her fatal mistake and how it branched out and affected others.

"Jude, I'm sorry," Hildegard said, her voice earnest and sincere. "I'm sorry about what happened with our trainer, and I'm sorry I beat you so badly."

"What about me?" Shard shouted, looking over at the trio. "You nearly killed me."

"Shard," Hearth growled, shooting the weavile a look that screamed that this was not the time. "You'll get your turn later."

"Can you forgive me?" Hildegard asked, cringing slightly but eyeing him with all the seriousness she could manage.

Jude's lips quivered as she gazed at the floor pensively, all the remaining anger and resentment flowing out of him. "Yeah," Jude finally replied, laying his head against the lucario's threadbare jacket, once worn by his late master. He thought he could pick up that familiar scent, and it washed over him with a warmth that alleviated his inner strain. "Yes, I can forgive you." Hearth could be heard sighing with relief and joyfulness.

"I forgive you too," the lucario said back, looking over to the absol with a nod. "You should rest."

Jude did not need to be told twice, the absol laying his head down on his paws. It all seemed so unreal at this point, almost like a dream. With a loud yawn, Jude closed his eyes, and drifted off to a very restful sleep.

* * *

The leaves of autumn were beginning to fall before Shard and Jude were well enough to travel again. The pair were quite ready to get out of bed and be up and about.

Hearth had spent a great deal of time talking to everyone she could at the sanctuary, learning just what Ignatius had made of his life. She felt a great deal of satisfaction in learning what had happened in the intervening years since she had first met him. He lived a good life and died a noble death.

All three of them had started out on this journey, each burdened with their own troubles. And in the end all three of them found the solutions they had needed. It was strange feeling, the closure that each of them felt as they walked towards the edge of Sanctuary, the trio following the path out which led farthest from the witch's mountains.

"Well, I guess we should go find Hildegard," Jude said, trotting down the pathway. "She should come with us."

"Us?" Shard asked, stopping in her tracks. "I was just going to see you two off. I'm staying here."

"Wait, what?" Jude asked, turning about to face the weavile. There was no anger in his voice, but shock, and some disappointment. "But, why?"

"I told you up in the mountains, and also on the way here," Shard said, rubbing the back of her head with her clawed hands. "I want to stop wandering. I want a stable place where I can start a family of my own. I like it here, so I decided to stay."

"This doesn't have anything to do with that boy does it?" Hearth said with a sly grin, the demonic dog nudging Shard with her paw.

"I don't know," the weavile drawled, blushing brightly at the insinuation. "Maybe, but right now we're just friends. I just got here after all. Maybe there's a nice kadabra boy with a love of magic tricks that will catch my eye."

"Well," Jude started, looking at the pair unsure of what to say. "I guess this is goodbye then. I hope you're happy Shard."

"You too, Judy," Shard sneered with a smile, the weavile pausing a moment. "I mean Jude."

"Well, come on Hearth," Jude said with a confident grunt, turning around to walk the pathway. "Hilde can be the third wheel now, I guess."

"You two might end up having to be a bicycle," Hearth laughed as she trotted after the absol. "I've spent too long neglecting my duties, and meeting with Ingrid again reminded me just how much evil there is out there."

"What do you mean?" the absol asked, unsure what this meant. "Are you staying too?"

"No," the houndoom said flatly, continuing on down the path. "But I'm going to return to my witch hunting."

"I could come with you," Jude said, optimistically trying to hold on to his friend and surrogate mother. "I'm pretty tough, and with all that potential Ingrid talked about, I bet you could train me to be some sort of awesome witch hunter."

"Jude," Hearth said, her voice sounding almost like his mother's in some ways. "This is a path I have to walk alone. It will kill me one day, and I don't want it to kill you too."

"But," Jude started, only to be met with a look from Hearth that stopped him cold. "Can't we all say goodbye to Hilde first then?"

"Yes," Hearth said, sitting down next to Shard. "Why don't you go get her?"

"You're going to leave me while I'm finding her, aren't you?" Jude said with a frown, looking at his friends longingly.

"I'm not going anywhere," Shard said, beginning work on one of her ice sculptures, this one looked to be a reclining chair of sorts. "Already told you, I'm staying right here."

"Go," Hearth said with a reassuring smile. "We'll be here when you get back."

Jude smiled, turning and running off down the pathway.

Fleur had explained that the lucario often meditated on the hill that overlooked the pathway out of Sanctuary, and the lopunny was correct here. The lucario was indeed sitting up on the mound atop a small broken wall.

Jude made his way quickly up the hill, padding in silently behind the lucario. He knew that she hated to be interrupted during her meditation. Still he needed her to at least come down for a bit to say goodbye.

"You don't have to sneak around like that," Hilde muttered, unfolding her legs and standing up. "I've gotten much better at tuning out distractions since I left."

"Then how did you know I was here?" the absol asked, ambling over to Hildegard and sitting down beside her.

"I sensed your aura," Hilde said with a small smirk, looking over at her friend. "It's troubled. I take it Hearth and Shard told you that they are going their own ways in the world."

"That's starting to get really weird," Jude replied, the absol never having known Hilde to be able to read emotions so readily. "I wish I could do that."

"Maybe you can," Hildegard said, stepping over to the absol, the lucario running her paw along his damaged head spike. "It would have been easier had I not broken this though. I am sorry for that too."

"We fought a lot," Jude said, thinking back to the days when they both lived with their master. "But those days are gone, and we should just move forward."

"Very wise of you, Jude," the lucario said with a nod. "Now, absol, as you know, have an innate ability to sense disaster. It's somewhat similar to my ability to sense aura, but not entirely."

"So if I learn to clear my mind," Jude started, putting two and two together. "I could be able to sense danger around me."

"You've grown up a lot since I left." Hilde remarked, crossing her legs and taking a deep breath. "Just let go Jude. Let it all go, and see where it takes you."

Jude exhaled. The absol trying to clear his mind of all that had recently happened. All his pain, his anger, his trauma—his mind drifted from a state of doing into a state of being. It felt like the weight of the world was lifting off of him after a bit.

"Good," Hilde said, taking another deep breath and letting it out. "Just like that. I can feel your aura stabilizing."

"It feels goo—," Jude stopped mid-sentence, his paws grasping at his head as he grunted in pain. "What—What is this!?"

The lucario's eyes shot open as Jude's aura had spiked dramatically and reached a point of turmoil once again, though this time of a different type. Hildegard had never seen anything like this before. As Jude continued to groan and bare his teeth in pain, she could do nothing but watch. The horn on Jude's head started to glow a bright silver, the intensity so great that she could feel heat radiating off of it. She could only imagine what Jude was feeling at this very moment. She put a paw on Jude's back in an attempt to comfort him.

Shard and Hearth came running up the hill, only to be as dumbfounded by the sight as Hilde was.

"What's going on?" Hearth asked, unable to get close to the thrashing absol. "What happened?"

"I was teaching him to meditate," Hildegard explained, gesturing to the absol. "And then this happened. He was doing quite well too."

The pair looked down at Jude, the absol continuing to writhe on the ground for a few moments more. Slowly, the light of his blade began to dim, until finally it faded altogether. Jude lay whimpering in the grass.

"Jude," the lucario breathed out, not daring to touch the absol lest she make things worse. "What happened?"

"It's coming," Jude muttered, his eyes wide with terror, his breathing quick and shallow. "And it's going to kill us all."


End file.
